1 files changed, 6021 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/30588.txt b/30588.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50b48b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30588.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6021 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in Alaska, by Frank Gee Patchin
+
+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 Pony Rider Boys in Alaska
+       The Gold Diggers of Taku Pass
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Release Date: December 2, 2009 [EBook #30588]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN ALASKA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "I File the Claim!" Shouted Tad. _Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN ALASKA
+
+OR
+
+THE GOLD DIGGERS OF TAKU PASS
+
+By
+
+FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+Author of The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies, The Pony Rider Boys in
+Texas, The Pony Rider Boys in Montana, The Pony Rider Boys in the
+Ozarks, The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali, The Pony Rider Boys in New
+Mexico, The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon, The Pony Rider Boys
+with the Texas Rangers, The Pony Rider Boys on the Blue Ridge, The
+Pony Rider Boys in New England, The Pony Rider Boys in Louisiana,
+etc., etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+Akron, Ohio--New York
+
+Made in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright MCMXXIV
+
+By THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+PAGE
+
+Chapter I--Through Enchanting Waters                     11
+
+  The mystery of the Gold Diggers. The story of an
+  Indian capture. The skipper gives himself a hunch.
+  The lure of the yellow metal. The abode of an
+  angry spirit.
+
+Chapter II--The Boys Scent a Plot                        29
+
+  Ned Rector puts his foot in. The man with the
+  combustible whiskers. Tad overhears an exciting
+  conversation. His duty not clear to him. Attacked
+  by a desperado.
+
+Chapter III--In Desperate Straits                        40
+
+  Almost hurled overboard. Help comes in the nick
+  of time. Tad accuses his assailant. Whiskers as
+  evidence. Plotters are driven from the ship by
+  young Butler.
+
+Chapter IV--On the Overland Trail                        48
+
+  "You have neglected your horse education." Tad
+  amazes a horse trader. Chunky wants no "quick"
+  mules. Driving a keen bargain. The boys decide
+  to guide themselves.
+
+Chapter V--Traveling a Dangerous Mountain Pass           59
+
+  The Professor tells the boys about the "great
+  country." When a fellow needs a bird's eye. A
+  toboggan slide that might reach to Asia. Pony
+  Rider Boys hear a terrifying sound.
+
+Chapter VI--Caught in a Giant Slide                      69
+
+  A pack mule swept from the ledge. Tad fires a
+  humane shot. Taking desperate chances to rescue
+  the pack. "I don't propose to lose my lasso."
+
+Chapter VII--Going to Bed by Daylight                    82
+
+  How the pack mule was buried. Heavy obstacles are
+  overcome. A cure for cold feet. The fat boy knows
+  his own capacity. Tents are swallowed up in the
+  gloom of an Alaskan night.
+
+Chapter VIII--An Intruder in the Camp                    91
+
+  The fat boy's singing brings disaster. Professor
+  Zepplin wields his stick. A wild scrimmage in
+  pajamas. The mystery of the lost ham. "There
+  has been a prowler in this camp while we slept!"
+
+Chapter IX--A Mystery Unsolved                          103
+
+  "It was an Indian who did this job." Stacy is
+  roped out of bed. Two fish on one hook. Suspicion
+  is directed toward Tad. Ned's head suffers the loss
+  of some hair.
+
+Chapter X--In the Home of the Thlinkits                 113
+
+  Ned Rector is full of fight. Stacy makes Tad Butler
+  dance. Chunky plans revenge. The fat boy finds a
+  food emporium. A mother squaw in a rage.
+
+Chapter XI--The Guide Who Made a Hit                    125
+
+  "Me heap big smart man." Anvik refuses to
+  "mush" because the spirits are abroad. "Him
+  kick like buck caribou." Tad Butler gets a new
+  title. Off for the wilds.
+
+Chapter XII--In the Heart of Nature                     136
+
+  From trail to trackless wilderness. A grilling hike.
+  Tad, in a fine shot, bags an antelope. "Hooray!
+  Maybe that was a chance shot!" A ducking in an
+  icy mountain stream.
+
+Chapter XIII--A Pony Rider Boy's Pluck                  146
+
+  Tad carries the dead doe to camp. "Him heap
+  big little man." Stacy knows how to "skin the
+  cat." The antelope dressed by the Indian guide.
+  Fresh meat in plenty now.
+
+Chapter XIV--Stacy Bumps the Bumps                      152
+
+  The difficulty of leading a mule. Chunky and the
+  animal go over the brink. Tin cans rattle down the
+  mountain side. The fat boy hung up by one foot.
+
+Chapter XV--The Story in the Dead Fire                  162
+
+  "White boy see almost like Indian." Campers had
+  left in a hurry. Stacy discovers something. Eating
+  ice cream with a pickle fork. Surrounded by
+  mysteries in the great mountains.
+
+Chapter XVI--A Sign from the Mountain Top               167
+
+  "Him white man smoke." The wonders of mountain
+  signaling. Friends or enemies? Overwhelmed
+  by an avalanche of ice. A roar and an even more
+  terrifying silence.
+
+Chapter XVII--An Unexpected Meeting                     174
+
+  "Innua him mad." Heap big ice nearly wipes out
+  the Pony Rider Boys' camp. Tad makes a morning
+  excursion and meets an unpleasant surprise.
+
+Chapter XVIII--An Unfriendly Reception                  178
+
+  Tad boldly faces his accusers. Threats from the
+  prospectors. A man on Butler's trail. Tad takes a
+  pot shot and gets immediate results. "Stop that
+  shooting, you fool!" The fat boy draws a bead.
+
+Chapter XIX--The Professor in a Rage                    189
+
+  "It's a lie!" thunders Professor Zepplin. Ordered
+  out of the hills on penalty of being shot. "If you are
+  looking for trouble you may have all you want!"
+  A threat to punch the prospector's nose.
+
+Chapter XX--Tad Discovers Something                     198
+
+  Pony Rider Boys off for bear. The fat boy frightened
+  by a totem pole. In a place of many mysteries.
+  Tad makes a great find. A discovery that led
+  to sensational results.
+
+Chapter XXI--Conclusion                                 203
+
+  Rifle shots fired into the Pony Rider Boys' camp.
+  Miners in a frenzy of joy. Butler makes a new find.
+  Their boundary markings found destroyed. Tad
+  starts on a desperate ride. His claim must be filed
+  ahead of that of the enemy at whatever cost. A
+  race through ice-clogged waters. A fight to the finish
+  before the clerk's desk. A triumph for the Gold
+  Diggers of Taku Pass. The end of the long, long trail.
+
+
+
+
+THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN ALASKA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THROUGH ENCHANTING WATERS
+
+
+"Captain, who are the four silent men leaning over the rail on the other
+side of the boat?" asked Tad Butler. "I have been wondering about them
+almost ever since we left Vancouver. They don't seem to speak to a
+person, and seldom to each other, though somehow they appear to be
+traveling in company. They act as if they were afraid someone would
+recognize them. I am sure they aren't bad characters."
+
+Captain Petersen, commander of the steamer "Corsair," which for some
+days had been plowing its way through the ever-changing northern waters,
+stroked his grizzled beard reflectively.
+
+"Bad characters, eh?" he twinkled. "Well, no, I shouldn't say as they
+were. They're fair-weather lads. I'll vouch for them if necessary, and I
+guess I'm about the only person on board that knows who they are."
+
+Tad waited expectantly until the skipper came to the point of the story
+he was telling.
+
+"They are the Gold Diggers of Taku Pass, lad."
+
+"The Gold Diggers of Taku Pass?" repeated Tad Butler. "I don't think I
+ever heard that name before. Where is this pass, sir?"
+
+The skipper shook his head.
+
+"No one knows," he said.
+
+"That is strange," wondered Butler. "Does no one know where they dig for
+gold?"
+
+"No. They don't even know themselves," was the puzzling reply.
+
+Tad fixed the weather-beaten face of the skipper with a questioning
+gaze.
+
+"I don't think I understand, sir."
+
+"I'll tell you what I know about it some other time, lad. I haven't the
+time to spin the yarn now. It's a long one. I've been sailing up and
+down these waters, fair weather and foul, for a good many years, and
+I've seen a fair cargo of strange things in my time, but this Digger
+outfit is the most peculiar one I ever came across. They are a living
+example of what the lure of gold means when it gets into a man's system.
+Gold is all right. I wish I had more of it; but, my boy, don't ever let
+the love of it get to the windward of you if you hope to enjoy peace of
+mind afterwards," concluded the skipper with emphasis.
+
+"What's that he says about gold?" interjected Stacy Brown, more commonly
+known to his companions as Chunky, the fat boy.
+
+Stacy, with Ned Rector and Walter Perkins, had been lounging against the
+starboard rail of the "Corsair," observing Tad and the Captain as they
+talked. A few paces forward sat Professor Zepplin, their traveling
+companion, wholly absorbed in a scientific discussion with an engineer
+who was on his way to an Alaskan mine, of which the latter was to assume
+control. Many other passengers were strolling about the decks of the
+"Corsair." There were seasoned miners with bearded faces; sharp-eyed,
+sharp-featured men with shifty eyes; pale-faced prospectors on their way
+to the land of promise, in quest of the yellow metal; capitalists going
+to Alaska to look into this or that claim with a view to investment;
+and, more in evidence than all the rest, a large list of tourists bound
+up the coast on a merry holiday. The former, in most instances, were
+quiet, reserved men, the latter talkative and boisterous.
+
+"The Captain was speaking of the lure that gold holds for the human
+race," replied Tad Butler in answer to Stacy Brown's question. "I guess
+the Captain is right, too."
+
+"Be warned in time, Chunky," added Rector.
+
+"I've never seen enough gold to become lured by it," retorted the fat
+boy. "I should like to see enough to excite me just once. I shouldn't
+mind being lured that way. Would you, Walt?"
+
+Walter Perkins shook his head and smiled.
+
+"I fear you will have to shake yourself--get over your natural
+laziness--before you can hope to," chuckled Ned. "I doubt if you would
+know a lure if you met one on Main Street in Chillicothe."
+
+"Try me and see," grinned Stacy.
+
+"There must be a lot of gold up here, judging from what I have read, and
+from the number of persons going after it," added Tad, with a sweeping
+gesture that included the deckload of miners and prospectors. "But the
+hardships and the heart-breakings must be terrible. I have read a lot
+about the terrors that men have gone through in this country, especially
+in the awful winters they have in Alaska."
+
+"I shouldn't mind them if I had a sledge and a pack of dogs to tote me
+around, the way they do up here," declared Chunky.
+
+"That would be great fun," agreed young Perkins. "You wouldn't have far
+to fall if you got bucked off from that kind of broncho, would you,
+Stacy?"
+
+"Not unless you fell off a mountain," answered Ned, glancing at the
+distant towering cliffs of the coast range.
+
+"I was asking the Captain about those four men yonder," said Tad.
+
+"Oh, the fellows who don't speak to anyone?" nodded Rector.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Who are they? I have wondered about them."
+
+"I don't know their names, but the skipper tells me they are known as
+the Gold Diggers of Taku Pass," replied Butler. "The queer part of it
+is, he says, that no one, so far as he is aware, knows even that there
+is such a place as Taku Pass. They don't know themselves," added Tad
+with a smile.
+
+"That's strange," wondered Rector. "Crazy?"
+
+"No, I think not. They are prospecting for an unknown claim," replied
+Tad.
+
+"I--I don't know anything about that," spoke up Stacy Brown. "But I know
+who those fellows are."
+
+"You do?" exclaimed the boys in chorus.
+
+"Yes. I asked them. That's the way to find out what you want to know,
+isn't it?" chuckled Stacy.
+
+"Who are they?" asked Butler laughingly.
+
+"The minery-looking fellow is Sam Dawson. The one beside him is Curtis
+Darwood. The tall, slim chap nearest to us is Dill Bruce. They call him
+the Pickle for short."
+
+"He looks sour enough to be one," laughed Walter.
+
+"The other chap, the little one, is Curley Tinker. And there you have
+the whole outfit. I'll introduce you to them if you like," volunteered
+Chunky.
+
+"No, thank you. I already have tried to talk with the men, but they
+don't seem inclined to open their mouths," replied Butler.
+
+"It strikes me that you have made more progress that anyone else on this
+boat, so far as the four gold diggers are concerned," added Rector,
+addressing Chunky.
+
+"Yes, I am convinced that Chunky is rather forward," agreed Tad.
+
+"Oh, no one can resist me," averred the fat boy. "Anything else you want
+to know, Tad?"
+
+"Yes, a great deal. But here is the Captain. He will tell me."
+
+Captain Petersen had taken a fancy to the boys almost from the first. He
+had learned who they were early on that voyage, and in the meantime they
+had become very well acquainted with the commander of the "Corsair." He
+had taken pains to explain to the lads many things about the country
+past which they were sailing--things that otherwise they would not have
+known, and the voyage was proving very interesting to them, as well as
+to Professor Zepplin himself.
+
+"Come below now and I'll tell you the story," invited Captain Petersen,
+starting to descend the after companionway. "All of you come along. That
+will save your asking questions later on," he smiled.
+
+"You see, he invited you on my account," chuckled Stacy Brown, tapping
+his breast with the tips of his fingers.
+
+The lads filed down the companionway behind the Captain, and when they
+had finally settled themselves in the skipper's cabin and he had lighted
+his pipe, he began to speak.
+
+"I always come below and put my feet on the table after we pass the
+Shoal of Seals," he explained. "That is the time I take my 'watch
+below,' as we call it, when we come down for a rest or a sleep. But you
+are eager to hear the story. Very good. Here goes. A good many years ago
+an expedition came up to this part of the world on an exploring mission.
+In that party was a Dr. Darwood from some place in the East. I don't
+believe I ever heard the name of the place, and if I knew the state I
+have forgotten it. Well, to make a long story short, the party was
+ambushed by the Kak-wan-tan Indians. Every man of the party was captured
+and all were put to death, with the exception of Dr. Darwood. Somehow,
+the Indians had learned that he was a big medicine man, so they made the
+Doctor captive and took him over the mountains many miles from there.
+They probably killed the others so as to make sure of the Doctor."
+
+"What did they want with a medicine man?" interjected the fat boy.
+
+"They wanted him professionally. Their chief was a very sick man. I
+guess the old gentleman was about ready to die. At least he thought so.
+The chief bore the name of Chief Anna-Hoots. Nice name, eh? No wonder he
+got sick."
+
+"He must have belonged to the owl family," observed Chunky.
+
+Tad rebuked the fat boy with a look. The Captain regarded Stacy
+quizzically, then proceeded with his story.
+
+"Their own medicine man had been killed by a bear. You see his medicine
+wasn't calculated to head off bears. The chief, therefore, was in a bad
+way. Dr. Darwood was commanded to make the chief well, and, so the story
+goes, after examining Hoots, he at once saw what was the trouble with
+the old man. He set to work over the savage, not so much from a
+professional interest as that he knew very well his life would be
+forfeited did he not do something for the patient. It is a safe guess
+that the Doctor never had worked more heroically over a patient. Well,
+he saved the chief--had him on his feet and hopping around as lively as
+a jack-rabbit in less than twenty-four hours. There was great rejoicing
+among Anna's people, and Darwood was feasted and made much of. He was
+almost as big a man as Old Hoots himself. Nothing was too good for him
+in that camp."
+
+"Why didn't he poison the whole tribe while he had the chance?"
+questioned Rector.
+
+"Perhaps it wasn't professional," smiled the Captain in reply. "But
+Chief Anna-Hoots--precious old rascal that he was--was so grateful that
+he made the Doctor chief medicine man over all the tribes and a tribal
+chief of one of the subordinate tribes. And now we are coming to the
+point of our story. Old Hoots, later on, let the Doctor into a great
+secret. Having driven the evil spirits out of Anna and set him on his
+feet almost as good as new, the patient evidently was of the opinion
+that the medicine man was entitled to something more than the ordinary
+fee for such a service. He took the Doctor to a place where a roaring
+glacial stream of icy water was tearing down through a narrow gash in
+the mountains on its way to the sea, and there he showed the
+doctor-chief gold in great quantities, so the story runs, the pass being
+guarded by the Bear Totem. It is not certain whether the vein from which
+this gold had been washed was then known. I think Darwood must have
+found it later on and located a claim. He at least took from the mouth
+of the pass enough gold to make him a fairly rich man. This he hid away,
+awaiting a favorable opportunity to get away with it. Such opportunity
+presented itself while his tribe was away on a hunt in the fall for meat
+for the winter, and made his escape. After some months of terrible
+hardships he succeeded in reaching civilization, fairly staggering under
+the weight of the gold he had brought away. He had the gold-madness
+badly, you see."
+
+"He was plucky," muttered Butler.
+
+"Yes. It was Darwood's intention to return, at the head of a well-armed
+party, properly equipped, and work the pay dirt to its limit. But he
+died before he could do so. The hardships of that journey, loaded down
+with dust and nuggets, led to his ultimate death. You see what avarice
+will do to a fellow. It gets to windward of him every time."
+
+"I'd be willing to stagger under all I could carry and take my chances
+on the future," observed Chunky reflectively.
+
+"So would we all," nodded the skipper. "That's the worst of us, our
+greed. I am glad I am at sea, where I _can't_ dig. Nothing was done
+in the matter of locating and working the claim for some years after the
+Doctor's death. Then a grandson, Curtis Darwood, who is now aboard this
+boat, found a paper or map or something of the sort, on which was a
+description of the Doctor's find. It couldn't have been very definite or
+they wouldn't have been so long in locating the place. Of course, the
+younger man was fired with the desire to find this wonderful mine. The
+lure had him fast and hard. He came up here alone the first time and
+prospected all summer, but failed, and late that fall he went back home.
+When he returned the three other men, who are his companions now, were
+with him. They have been together ever since in their prospecting work.
+Dawson is a pioneer prospector who knows the game thoroughly. The
+others, who have been up here three years, might now be placed in the
+same class, though Dawson is the real miner. One can't help but admire
+their pluck and persistence, but I shouldn't want to be caught
+interfering with them. When a fellow gets the gold madness he is a
+dangerous customer to annoy."
+
+"Have they found the gold?" asked Walter Perkins.
+
+Captain Petersen shook his head.
+
+"I think not. If they have, only they know it. They take no one into
+their confidence. They went home for the winter last fall, and what
+amazes me further is that they are getting up here so late this spring.
+Here it is June. They should have been on the job six weeks ago, and in
+order to do so they ought to have wintered in the hills. To me that
+means something. It will be a wonder if this unusual move on their part
+doesn't attract attention. You may believe they are watched. There are,
+no doubt, those who are watching the Diggers, and who do not miss any of
+their movements." The skipper hesitated, then brought a big fist down on
+his cabin table with a bang that set the glassware jingling. "By George,
+I begin to see a light!" he roared.
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Chunky.
+
+"What is it, sir?" chorused Tad and Ned in one voice.
+
+"That accounts for Red Whiskers. That accounts for his presence on--"
+The skipper checked himself suddenly. "But no matter. It isn't for me to
+say." He lapsed into thoughtful silence. "Well, what do you think of the
+story?" he asked a few moments later.
+
+"It is all very remarkable," answered Butler. "Where are they
+going--their destination, I mean?"
+
+"You never can tell. They have explored pretty much all of the country
+within a few hundred miles of here, and it wouldn't surprise me at all
+if they had stumbled over the right place dozens of times and didn't
+know it. But there is one significant fact. They have brought up a lot
+of equipment this time. It looks as if they thought they had the place
+pretty well located. It certainly does look that way. There's another
+thing I forgot to tell you. This place, this pass where the gold is
+supposed to lie, is the abode of a great and angry spirit."
+
+"A really, truly spirit?" questioned Walter wonderingly.
+
+"I can't say about the really-truly business," replied Captain Petersen,
+with a grin. "I am telling you the story as I have heard it. Had Old
+Hoots' tribe known that the Doctor went in there and dug out gold which
+he salted away they would have put him to death. It's a sacred place. It
+was then, and I'll wager it is now. You may believe that the
+superstition has been handed down."
+
+"But the Indians up here now are not at all savage, are they?" asked
+Butler.
+
+"Perhaps not where the white man has taken possession in force. But you
+get into the far interior--there is a great deal of Alaska that the
+white man knows very little about yet--and you will find them savage
+enough, provided they think they have you in a pocket, and especially so
+if you interfere with any of their religious customs or beliefs. In
+these respects they are simply human."
+
+"I should call them inhuman," observed the fat boy.
+
+"I don't blame them," nodded Tad.
+
+"Now, that is the story of the Gold Diggers, so far as I know it,"
+continued the Captain. "As I have already said, not many persons up here
+do know it. A veil of mystery surrounds the four silent men. They make
+no other friends, confide in no one, and live in a little world all
+their own. The story, as I have repeated it to you, was told to me by a
+man from their part of the country who came up here to spend the summer
+last season. That is how I came to know the details. It is possible,
+though not probable, that you might get them to tell you something about
+the country."
+
+"I'll make them talk," answered Stacy pompously.
+
+"What is their destination?" asked Butler quickly.
+
+"Skagway. However, that undoubtedly is a blind. They may be going on
+farther from that point, or they may be intending to work back along the
+coast after they leave the ship, then strike into the hills at some
+remote point. I can't say as to that, of course. They will disappear.
+You may depend upon that, and nothing may be heard of them again for a
+year."
+
+"What do they do for provisions?" questioned Rector.
+
+"The same as you will have to do if you penetrate far into the interior.
+They hunt and fish, saving their canned supplies for the winter, for the
+winter months are long and drear up in this far northern country."
+
+"When does winter set in?" asked Ned.
+
+"Very early. It seems to be most always winter up here."
+
+"Thank you very much," said Tad. "This has been most interesting. I
+should like to ask them something about the country where we are going.
+Of course I shouldn't presume to question them about their own affairs.
+That would be none of my business."
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"We had planned to strike north from Yakutat."
+
+"You will find rough country that way. I should say you would have tough
+traveling all the way. If you can get the Gold Diggers to open up, they
+will undoubtedly be able to give you some useful information that would
+enable you to lay your course to the best advantage. But I think I know
+the Diggers. You may not be able to get a civil word out of them."
+
+"They'll talk to me," answered the fat boy confidently.
+
+"Please don't permit yourself to be overcome," warned Rector. "Remember
+your most excellent opinion of yourself has been the cause of some
+mighty falls already."
+
+"Well, I fell in soft spots anyhow," retorted Stacy.
+
+"Ordinarily on your head, I believe," answered Ned quickly.
+
+Again thanking the Captain for his kindness, the lads returned to the
+deck. Tad leaned against the rail thinking over the story related by the
+skipper. The romance of the quest of the Diggers appealed to Butler's
+adventure-loving nature. He declared to himself that he would draw them
+into conversation and satisfy his further curiosity. Looking them over
+in the light of what he had heard, Tad saw that the four were
+determined-looking men, were men who would do and dare, no matter how
+great the obstacles or the perils. He could not but feel a keen
+admiration for them. They were real men, even if they were surly and
+reticent.
+
+"Tad, how would you like to belong to that party of prospectors?" asked
+Ned, nodding toward the four.
+
+"I can't imagine anything more exciting. I wish we might. I wonder if
+they are going our way?"
+
+"Why don't you ask them?"
+
+"I intend to," answered Tad, rousing himself and starting towards the
+prospectors who were lounging apart from the other passengers on the
+deck of the steamer.
+
+"Watch him get turned down," grinned Stacy. "I shall have to break the
+ice for him. He never will be able to do it for himself."
+
+"Better wait until you are asked," advised Ned Rector.
+
+As Stacy had said, Tad did not succeed in getting into conversation with
+the Diggers that day. Early on the following morning the boys were on
+deck, being unwilling to miss a single moment of the scenery.
+
+The "Corsair" was swinging majestically into Queen Charlotte Sound, a
+splendid sweep of purple water, where great waves from the Pacific
+rolled in, sending the steamer plunging desperately. There was a scurry
+on the part of many of the early risers to get below decks, for the
+change from the quiet waters through which the boat had been sailing to
+this tumultuous sea was more than most of them were able to stand. Stacy
+Brown was already on his back in the shadow of a life boat, groaning
+miserably. Walter Perkins' face was pale, but he held himself together
+by a strong effort of will, but Tad Butler and Ned Rector appeared not
+in the least affected by the roll of the steamer. Both were lost in
+admiration of the scene that was unfolding before them.
+
+"They roll along with the lightness of thistledown across a green
+field," declared Tad enthusiastically, speaking to himself. "It is
+simply glorious."
+
+He heard someone come to the rail at his side, but the lad was too fully
+absorbed to look around.
+
+"That wasn't bad for a sentiment, young fellow," said a voice at his
+elbow. "If you stay up in this country long enough, however, you will
+get all the sentiment frozen out of you. I know, for I've been all
+through it. I'm lucky that my bones aren't up yonder somewhere."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Butler.
+
+Glancing around he found himself gazing into the face of Curtis Darwood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BOYS SCENT A PLOT
+
+
+"Oh, how do you do, sir. Did I say anything?"
+
+"Well, there's a chance for a difference of opinion as to that," smiled
+the miner.
+
+"I have been enjoying the scenery, sir. Isn't it beautiful?"
+
+"You should see it at sunrise," answered Darwood. "These mists are well
+worth coming all the way up here to gaze upon. In the morning they take
+on all the delicate tints of the primrose. Then at sunset of course the
+colors grow warmer--amber, orange, gold--almost everything that could be
+imagined in the way of wonderful colorings. All that sort of thing, you
+know. I never saw anything like it in any part of the world, and I've
+seen some," added the Gold Digger reflectively.
+
+"I should like to see it at sunset," answered Tad. "Is it ever like this
+in the interior, sir?"
+
+"Interior of what?"
+
+"Of the country? Up there in the mountains?"
+
+Darwood gave the boy a quick glance of inquiry. There was suspicion in
+his eyes.
+
+"In the far country?" added Butler.
+
+"I can't say as to that; I can't say that I know," replied the
+prospector shortly.
+
+"What we wanted to ask you about was the Yakutat trail from the coast
+up?" interjected Ned. "You see, we are going that way and we want to get
+all the information we can about the trails and the country itself."
+
+Tad gave his companion a warning look, but Ned persisted in pressing his
+questioning. The miner's hands dropped from the rail.
+
+"I reckon you would better ask someone else. I can't tell you anything
+about the trail," replied Darwood, turning on his heel and striding
+away.
+
+"There, you've done it now," complained Butler ruefully. "Of course you
+had to break in and spoil it all. Now we shan't get another opportunity.
+Mr. Darwood is suspicious of us, and he won't talk with us again. It's
+too bad."
+
+"Well, you wanted to know. What's the use in beating about the bush when
+you want to know a thing. I believe in asking for what you want,"
+protested Ned.
+
+"So do I, but it isn't always best to go at it bald-headed. However,
+never mind, Ned. I am now convinced that there would be little use in
+asking Mr. Darwood questions in any circumstances. The instant you begin
+to talk Alaska with that man he is going to shy off. He fears he might
+be trapped into an admission, or else he thinks we are trying to pump
+him for some other reason. You may be sure that others have tried to
+draw him out, believing they might obtain information that he is
+supposed to possess."
+
+"They are a queer lot," muttered Ned. "Didn't the Captain say no one
+knew anything about this gold pass, or whatever you call it?"
+
+"Taku Pass? Yes. That is, he said few persons knew of it, but you may be
+sure that the purpose of these men up here is known. There are plenty of
+gentlemen waiting to beat those four into the land of golden promise. I
+don't blame the Diggers for having their suspicions of everyone about
+them. I wish I could convince them that we aren't that sort of people. I
+like that fellow. I'd like to help him, too," mused Tad.
+
+"I shouldn't. However, I'm sorry I put my foot in it," nodded Ned.
+
+"You needn't be. See! We are running out of the swell now."
+
+The steamer, soon coming under the lee of the islands, was steaming into
+Fitzhugh Sound, where dangerous shoals menace the navigators of these
+enchanting waters. Captain Petersen was now occupying the little bridge
+just forward of the pilot house. His face was grim and set. The good
+fellow was no longer present--it was now the master, bent upon attending
+to his duties.
+
+The sound is a slender waterway, extending directly northward fully
+thirty miles, more entrancing, it seemed to the boys, than any other
+water over which they had sailed. The Pony Rider Boys were having a
+glorious passage into the far north where they were going in search of
+new adventure. They were bound for the wildest and most remote section
+of Uncle Sam's domain, where they hoped to spend the summer months.
+
+Now that the waters had become more quiet, Stacy Brown slowly dragged
+himself from the shadow of the life-boat and stood gripping the gunwale.
+After getting his head leveled somewhat he walked unsteadily to his
+companions who were leaning on the steamer's rail regarding him with
+smiling faces.
+
+"Sick?" questioned Tad.
+
+"No; merely ailing," replied the fat boy.
+
+"I wouldn't be a landlubber," jeered Rector.
+
+"You would, if you were in my place," muttered Stacy.
+
+On through a panorama of changing scenes and colors sailed the
+"Corsair." In Finlayson Channel, some distance farther on, the forest
+that lined the shores was a solid mountain of green on each side, the
+trees growing down to the water. Here the reflections were so brilliant
+that the dividing line between shore and water was difficult for the
+untrained eye to make out. The boys seemed to be gazing upon an optical
+illusion. From the water's edge the mountains rose sheer to a great
+height, their distant peaks capped with snow glistening in the morning
+sunlight, while glacial streams flashed over the open spaces on the
+mountain sides.
+
+"Is there no end to it?" wondered Tad Butler, gazing at the scenery
+until his eyes ached.
+
+"It is all very wonderful," agreed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I call it tiresome," declared the fat boy wearily. "I prefer something
+exciting."
+
+Ned suggested that he jump overboard. Stacy replied that he would were
+it not that he didn't want to put his companions to the trouble of
+rescuing him.
+
+The entrancing scenery continued at intervals until the evening of the
+second day after their unsuccessful attempt to draw out Curtis Darwood.
+They were now passing through Frederick Sound, bordered by spire-shaped
+glaciers that towered in the sky, pale and chaste, more than two
+thousand feet above the sound. Darkness fell, the sky being overcast,
+and the air chill, giving the passengers the shivers and sending them to
+their cabins below. Tad Butler and Ned Rector had clambered to the top
+of the deck-house and settled themselves between the two smokestacks. It
+was a nice warm berth and they appreciated it. They seemed far away from
+human habitation there.
+
+"You said you had something to tell me this evening," Ned reminded his
+companion, after a few moments of contented silence.
+
+"Yes. It was about last night. You remember that remark of the skipper's
+the other day, don't you?"
+
+"About what?"
+
+"What he said about 'Red Whiskers'?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I have the gentleman located, Ned. I am reasonably certain that I have.
+Of course it's none of my business, but I have been curious ever since
+the Captain said that. My man has red whiskers, regular combustible
+whiskers," added the freckle-faced boy with a grin.
+
+"There are several men on board this boat who wear red upholstery on
+their chins," averred Rector.
+
+"I know that, but this one is the fellow, all right," declared Tad in a
+confident tone.
+
+"You know something!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"I do. Don't speak so loudly. Someone might hear. I heard someone
+passing along the deck just below us a moment ago."
+
+"No one down there could distinguish what we were saying," answered Ned,
+as the two drew back farther between the steel bases of the two funnels.
+
+"Well?" urged Ned.
+
+"The man referred to by Captain Petersen is Sandy Ketcham, the tall,
+lank fellow, with the squinty eyes and the stoop shoulders. He has a
+trick of peering up from under his eyelids when he looks at you."
+
+"Oh! I know the one you mean, and I don't like his looks. How did you
+know?"
+
+"Since the Captain made that remark about 'Red Whiskers' I have been
+taking an interest in every man on the boat who wore red whiskers," said
+Tad. "I tried to decide, in my own mind, which of them was the right
+one."
+
+"So did I," admitted Ned. "But I got all mixed up. If you succeeded in
+picking out the right one you are mighty sharp. I wish I were as keen as
+you."
+
+"Keen? Not a bit of it! It was a pure accident that I found out. I just
+blundered on the truth last night. The man I had picked out wasn't the
+fellow at all. I had the wrong man, so you see I am not so smart as you
+thought. You remember you left Stacy and myself sitting on a bale of
+freight at the rear end of the boat when you went down late last
+evening?"
+
+"Yes. Chunky was half asleep."
+
+"Exactly. Well, I shook him up a few moments later and he went below
+grumbling because I wouldn't let him sleep when he was so comfortable.
+He was liable to catch cold in the damp air. Then I went to sleep
+myself," admitted Butler. "I'm not much of an adviser, am I?"
+
+"Go on," urged Rector.
+
+"Something awakened me. Two men were talking nearby. I couldn't see
+them, but could hear every word they said. One of the two I recognized
+by his voice. The other I was unable to place. I got him placed right
+to-day though, when I heard him talking on deck. They are a precious
+pair of rascals, Ned. Perhaps it is considered fair enough up here to do
+those things, but I just can't hold myself when I see crookedness going
+on."
+
+"You haven't said what it was about yet," reminded Ned.
+
+"They were plotting against Darwood."
+
+"You don't say?"
+
+"Yes, they were."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I am not going to tell you now. The question is, ought I to tell Mr.
+Darwood? Would it be right to carry tales, even in a case like this?"
+
+"Not knowing what the case is I can't very well advise you," answered
+Ned Rector.
+
+"What did they say?"
+
+"I'd rather not say a word about that until I have decided what to do."
+
+"You're a queer chap, Tad. You arouse my curiosity; then you won't
+satisfy it."
+
+"You shall know all about it in good time. Hark! Was that you who kicked
+the collar of the stack?"
+
+"No. I didn't hear anything. Who was the other man?"
+
+"His name is Ainsworth. He is a prospector, too. They are together, he
+and the man Sandy. There are some others in the plot, as I learned from
+the conversation, but I hardly think they are on board. I take it that
+the others are to meet this party at Skagway, which proves to me that
+the plans of our friends, the four Gold Diggers, were learned by the
+plotters some time before the former set sail for the north country. Oh,
+it is a fine game of grab they are planning! But I believe that, if Mr.
+Darwood be warned in time, he will be perfectly able to take care of
+himself. I am quite sure I shouldn't care to be the other fellow."
+
+"I don't know why we should get so excited over it," grumbled Ned.
+"Darwood and his companions are no friends of ours. I should say that
+quite the opposite is the case."
+
+"But they are real men, just the same," objected Tad. "I don't care
+whether they are friendly to us or not. Come on; let's get down."
+
+Grasping awning spars the two lads swung down to the promenade of the
+upper deck. After they had cleared the deck-house a man dropped to the
+deck from the deck-house, on the opposite side.
+
+After a few moments' stroll, during which the boys continued their
+conversation, they went below. On reaching his cabin, Butler discovered
+that he had lost his pocket knife. Thinking that it had slipped from his
+pocket while the two were lounging on the deck-house, Tad went back to
+look for it. He was the only person in sight on deck. That part of the
+deck was unlighted, save as a faint glow shone up through the engine
+room grating. The freckle-faced boy looked carefully about on top of the
+deck-house for several minutes, in search of his lost knife, lighting
+match after match to aid him in his quest. He failed to find it. With a
+grunt of disappointment he again swung himself to the deck.
+
+The instant his feet touched the deck, Tad Butler met with a violent
+surprise. He was suddenly grabbed from behind. A powerful arm gripped
+him like a vise, pinioning his own right arm to his side, while a big
+hand was clapped over his mouth, forcing the lad's head violently
+backwards with a jolt which for the moment he thought had dislocated his
+neck.
+
+Tad struggled and fought with all his might, but to little purpose. The
+boy realized that he was in the hands of a man who was a giant for
+strength and who was slowly but surely forcing him toward the steamer's
+rail. The Pony Rider Boy felt a bushy beard over his shoulder and
+against his neck. Now he was against the rail, facing out over the
+water. Butler knew that, despite his struggles, he was going to be
+dropped over the side. Then a sudden idea came to him. Tad shot up his
+free left hand, fastening his fingers in the long beard of the man
+behind him. He heard a smothered exclamation over his shoulder, and for
+the instant the hand over his mouth was withdrawn.
+
+"Help!" shouted Tad Butler. Then a blow on the head sent him limply to
+the deck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN DESPERATE STRAITS
+
+
+Tad's assailant hastily gathered the boy up. The man staggered slightly,
+as, after a hurried glance up and down the deck, he stepped toward the
+rail with his burden. Just then footsteps were heard.
+
+"Hey! What are you doing there?" bellowed a voice. A man came running
+from somewhere in the after part of the ship. Butler's assailant dropped
+his burden, dodged into a passageway in the deck-house, closing the door
+behind him and disappearing before the newcomer reached the door and
+threw it open. Then the rescuer turned to the unconscious Tad Butler.
+
+"Well, here's trouble!" he muttered. Taking up Tad's limp form he
+carried it to where the light from the grating shone up. "It's that
+freckle-faced kid. Somebody gave him a tough wallop," growled the man.
+Tad's rescuer was Sam Dawson, one of the Gold Diggers. "I reckon I'll
+fetch him around if his neck isn't broken."
+
+Laying the lad down on the deck where he would have plenty of air, the
+Digger worked over the Pony Rider Boy for fully five minutes before Tad
+returned to consciousness. Butler was too dazed to realize what had
+occurred.
+
+"I'll take you below now, my lad," said Dawson.
+
+"No, no. Not yet," protested Tad. "Wait. I want to think."
+
+"Who was the fellow who hit you?" demanded Dawson.
+
+"I--I don't know," stammered Tad.
+
+"What did he do it for?"
+
+"I--I don't know. I--"
+
+"You aren't very strong on information, are you?" grinned the
+prospector.
+
+"I want--want to see Mr. Darwood."
+
+"You can see him to-morrow. You'd better get into your bunk right smart.
+I'll help you down."
+
+"Thank you. I'll go alone--in a minute," said Butler, pulling himself up
+by the rail to which he clung unsteadily. "I don't want anyone to know.
+I'll tell Mr. Darwood what I have to say."
+
+"Have it your own way. I'm going to follow along behind, to see that you
+get down all right," answered the man.
+
+"Thank you. I guess you saved me from getting a wetting," said the boy,
+extending an impulsive hand. "Now I'll go to my cabin. Please don't say
+anything about this. Good-night."
+
+Tad's progress below was slow and unsteady. Dawson watched him until the
+door of the cabin had closed behind the Pony Rider Boy.
+
+"That's a raw deal," muttered the miner. "I'd like to punch the head of
+the fellow who would do that to a kid!"
+
+Butler got into his bunk without awakening his companions. His head
+ached terribly, and it was a long time before he fell asleep. The next
+morning his head felt twice its ordinary size. The boys joked him on his
+appearance, but Tad merely smiled, refusing to say what had been the
+matter with him. Ned was suspicious. He knew that Butler had been
+engaged in a scuffle, but what it was he was unable to imagine. Tad had
+been strolling about the decks all the morning, as if in search of
+someone. He found the man he was seeking late in the forenoon. The man
+was sitting on a keg of nails on the after part of the upper deck, his
+back to Tad.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Ketcham," greeted the Pony Rider Boy.
+
+The red-whiskered man whirled, letting the hand that had been caressing
+his beard fall limply to his side.
+
+"Beard hurt you?" questioned Tad sweetly.
+
+"None of yer business!" was the surly reply.
+
+"Mr. Ketcham, I know you and I know your game," began Butler in a low,
+even tone. "I know, too, that you are the man who assaulted me and tried
+to put me overboard."
+
+"I don't know what ye're talking about," growled Sandy.
+
+"Oh, yes you do--and so do I! I've a handful of whiskers which match
+perfectly those you are wearing. Shall I pull some more for comparison
+with those I already have?" questioned the boy aggravatingly.
+
+Ketcham half rose, then settled back again, as if fearing to trust
+himself.
+
+"You may be thankful that you didn't do it. My companions would have
+taken care of you, had anything happened to me," Tad went on composedly.
+"I want to say, now, that it would be good judgment on your part not to
+try any more strong-arm tactics on me or on my companions. If you do,
+you will instantly find yourself in more kinds of trouble than you have
+ever before experienced. Now that we know you, we shall be able to take
+care of you as you deserve. I reckon you know what that means, Red
+Whiskers."
+
+"Get out of here, before I do something to you!" roared Sandy.
+
+"Oh, no you won't! You don't dare raise your hand. I could turn you over
+to the Captain and have you placed in irons till we get ashore. I have
+proof enough to send you to a jail, if they have such places up here.
+But I'm not going to do that. I am going to be fair with you and tell
+you exactly what I propose. I am going to tell Curtis Darwood about you.
+No, I shan't tell him who it is. I will tell him that someone is
+following and watching him--you and Ainsworth. He will find you out,
+never fear. I will give you one chance. Get off at the next stop, and I
+will tell him after we leave there. Take your choice. Take your friend
+with you. I don't want to be responsible for any shooting on this boat.
+What do you say, Mr. Sandy?"
+
+The fellow's fingers opened and closed nervously. He attempted to speak
+but failed three times. Finally he blurted out his answer:
+
+"Will you git out of here? I'll lose myself in a minit; then I won't
+answer for what I do."
+
+"Never mind," answered Tad laughingly. "I can take care of myself.
+_Your_ kind never did scare me worth a cent."
+
+Sandy sprang up. He hesitated for a few tense seconds, then strode
+forward with Butler's soft chuckle in his ears.
+
+The two men did get off when the boat stopped late that afternoon. Tad
+was at the rail watching them. Sam Dawson was also an observer of the
+scene. He saw the threatening scowl that Ketcham gave the smiling Tad,
+and drew his own conclusions, and at the same time decided that the
+freckle-faced boy was pretty well able to hold his own. Dawson really
+suspected part of the reason for this hasty disembarking, though he
+thought it was because Tad had threatened to expose the man Ketcham.
+
+It was after supper when Tad called Ned Rector aside.
+
+"I promised to tell you, Ned. Come with me and listen to what I am going
+to tell Mr. Darwood."
+
+Ned went willingly. Darwood was sitting on deck. Tad halted before him,
+Darwood glancing up at the boys with languid interest.
+
+"May I speak with you?" asked the lad politely.
+
+"I reckon there's nothing to prevent," was the careless answer.
+
+Tad went direct to the point of his story.
+
+"A night or so ago I chanced to overhear two men who were passengers on
+this boat talking of you and the gentlemen who were with you. They were
+planning to follow and watch you. They thought you had discovered the
+claim for which you have been looking for so long."
+
+Darwood shot an angry glance at the boy.
+
+"Go on," he growled.
+
+"From their conversation I inferred that perhaps you already had
+discovered this claim and were on your way with equipment to work it. I
+further understood that they were to be met by others on shore and that
+the party was then to divide up and cover the movements of yourself and
+your friends. One of these fellows, I think, overheard me telling part
+of this story to my friend, Ned, last night, and the man tried to throw
+me overboard, after nearly squeezing me to death and then punching my
+head. I merely wanted to warn you to be on the lookout, and at the same
+time to tell you that neither of the two men is on board now. You may
+draw your own conclusions, sir."
+
+Ned Rector's face had flushed when Tad described the assault on himself.
+
+"Is that all?" asked Darwood indifferently.
+
+"Yes; I think so."
+
+"Thank you," said the Gold Digger, getting up slowly and strolling
+forward.
+
+Ned laughed; Tad flushed.
+
+"That's what you get for meddling with other folks' business," declared
+Rector.
+
+"I reckon you are right at that," answered Tad. Then he laughed
+heartily. Nor did he exchange another word with the Gold Diggers of Taku
+Pass during the rest of that journey on the "Corsair."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ON THE OVERLAND TRAIL
+
+
+It was the early morn of a week later when the "Corsair" sailed into
+Skagway harbor. Exclamations of delight were heard from every person who
+had not been there before. This beautiful spot is located at the mouth
+of the Skagway River, with mountains rising on all sides, from which
+countless cascades rush foaming and sparkling down to the sea, or drop
+sheer from such heights that one is forced to catch his breath.
+
+Skagway itself the Pony Rider Boys found gay with pretty cottages
+climbing over the foot-hills; well-worn, flower-strewn paths leading to
+the heights; the river's waters rippling over grassy flats; flower
+gardens beyond the power of their vocabularies to describe. Added to
+this, there was a sweetness in the air, which, as Stacy Brown expressed
+it, "makes a fellow feel like sitting down and doing nothing for the
+rest of his life."
+
+There were many trips to be taken from the city, perhaps the most
+historic in all that wild country. The boys journeyed out into the
+interior on the famous White Pass railway, climbed Mount Dewey to Dewey
+Lake, and took a look at the hunting grounds where mountain sheep were
+to be had providing one were quick enough on the trigger to get the
+little animals before they leaped away. The next morning they turned
+their attention to the task of purchasing such of their outfit as they
+had not yet procured.
+
+Having been referred to a man who kept Alaskan ponies for sale, they
+tramped out to the end of the long street on which the stores were
+located. There, sure enough, was a large herd of them in a paddock in a
+vacant lot. There were a good many vacant lots in Skagway. The boys
+climbed the paddock fence and looked over the lot.
+
+"Me for that black one over yonder," cried Chunky.
+
+"Why the black one?" asked Ned. "I thought you liked the lighter colors,
+the delicate tints?"
+
+"I do when some other fellow has to groom the animals. For a
+labor-saving color give me black every time. With a black horse I can
+sleep half an hour longer than any fellow who has a white one and yet be
+ready for breakfast as soon as he is."
+
+"You're too lazy to change your mind," growled Ned Rector.
+
+"You want the black one, you say?" questioned Tad.
+
+"That's what I said."
+
+"And you, Ned?"
+
+"Oh, I don't care. I'll stand by your choice."
+
+"So will I," spoke up Walter. "The Professor said you were to choose
+something in his class for him to ride, too."
+
+"Buy him a mule!" yelled Chunky.
+
+"Yes, that reminds me. We shall have to take a couple of mules. I wonder
+if we can get them here. There comes the owner of this herd. We'll talk
+to him."
+
+The owner of the ponies had been expecting the visit of the boys. He had
+been told that they would require ponies and did not know that the Pony
+Rider Boys had formed conclusions about them in advance.
+
+Tad introduced himself and his companions.
+
+"I've got just what you want, boys," nodded the owner. "Every one of
+those fellows is kind and gentle and will stand without hitching."
+
+"That isn't exactly what we are looking for. We are not particular about
+their being girls' horses. We want stock that has the gimp in it," Tad
+informed him.
+
+"That's it, that's it. You've just hit it. Gimp! That's the word, and
+there's another that fits--ginger! They're just full of ginger, every
+one of them. There ain't any more lively nags in Alaska than these
+fellows."
+
+"They must have changed within the last minute, then," smiled the Pony
+Rider Boy.
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Why, you were just telling us how gentle they are, then almost in the
+same breath you try to convince us that they are regular whirlwinds.
+However, we'll let that go. What I do want to know is what sort of
+mountain ponies they are. If they turn out not to be good mountain
+climbers you may look for some trouble when we get back here."
+
+"Boys, every one of those nags has been brought up in this country. They
+can follow a mountain trail like a deerhound, and that's straight. I
+wouldn't sell you anything else."
+
+"Oh, no, certainly not," answered Butler. "How much for the
+light-colored one?"
+
+"The buckskin?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Two hundred and fifty dollars."
+
+"I beg pardon?" asked Tad politely.
+
+"Two hundred and fifty."
+
+"I think you misunderstood me, sir. I didn't want to buy the whole
+herd."
+
+"You wanted five ponies?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, there you are. The buckskin will cost you two-fifty and so will
+the black. You can have any of the rest for two hundred and they're
+cheap hosses at that."
+
+"Lead them out."
+
+"Then you'll take them at that?"
+
+"I haven't said anything about taking them, yet. I said lead them out. I
+want to look them over."
+
+The owner smiled, but nodded to his hostler to rope and show the animals
+to the young men. Tad examined a dozen head, out of which he got three
+ponies, motioning to the hostler to tether them to one side where he
+could look them over again.
+
+"What's the matter with the others?" asked the man.
+
+"Various things. Some are wind-broken, two have the distemper, and if
+you don't watch out your whole herd will be getting it. I shall be
+rather afraid to buy any stock of you on that account. How long have
+they had the disease?"
+
+"I didn't know they had it at all," stammered the owner.
+
+"You had better watch them pretty carefully, then. How old is that
+buckskin?"
+
+"Just coming four."
+
+"Did somebody tell you that, or did you learn it from your own
+observation?" questioned Tad Butler sweetly.
+
+"I reckon I know a hoss's age when I look at his mouth," answered the
+man, but not quite with the same assurance that he had made his first
+statements. This clear-eyed, quiet young man, he began to understand,
+knew a little something about horses, or at least pretended to.
+
+"Then, sir, you have neglected your horse education. The buckskin is
+twelve years old," declared Butler firmly.
+
+"Mebby I might have made a mistake in looking at his mouth when I got
+him," answered the owner apologetically.
+
+Suppressed grins might have been observed on the faces of the other
+boys, who were still sitting on the paddock fence. They were leaving all
+matters pertaining to the stock in Butler's hands, knowing full well
+that Tad's judgment was better than theirs.
+
+In turn the lad once more examined the horses he had chosen, then added
+to them enough to make up their allotment.
+
+"Stacy, you are quite sure you want the black?" he questioned.
+
+The fat boy nodded.
+
+"He has a slight ringbone," Tad informed him.
+
+"All the better."
+
+"Why do you say that? I never knew that a ringbone increased the value
+of a horse."
+
+"A horse that wears rings must be a pretty classy horse," replied the
+fat boy. "Me for the horse with the jewelry. Put a pair of natty boots
+on him and there you have an outfit that would make a Mexican part with
+his spurs."
+
+"Pshaw!" grunted Ned. "Very fancy, but not much good for real work."
+
+"Stacy doesn't mean that," answered Tad with a tolerant smile.
+
+"Yes, I do mean it."
+
+"We need a pack mule," said Butler, turning to the owner. "Can you tell
+us where we may get one or two?"
+
+"Why, I've got just the critters you want. They're in the yard just back
+of the stables. Say, Jim, drive out the mules."
+
+There were five mules in the pack driven out for their examination.
+These started slowly moving about in a circle with heads well down,
+trailing each other as if following a regular routine.
+
+"Fine young stock, hardy and true and quick," said the owner, rubbing
+his palms together.
+
+"We don't want any quick one. We've had some experience with the quick
+kind," declared Stacy Brown. "They were so quick I couldn't get out of
+the way of their heels. No, siree, no quick mules for mine."
+
+"I don't think you need worry much about these," smiled Tad. "How much
+do you ask for those fellows?"
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Two. I to take my pick."
+
+"A hundred apiece."
+
+"I wouldn't give that for the lot of them," scoffed Chunky.
+
+"Keep still. You aren't making this bargain," rebuked Ned, giving the
+fat boy a poke in the ribs.
+
+Tad made a brief calculation on a slip of paper, then he looked up
+severely.
+
+"Five ponies at seventy-five dollars would amount to three hundred and
+seventy-five dollars. Two mules at forty each would be eighty more,
+making a total of four hundred and fifty-five dollars," said Butler.
+"I'll tell you what I will do. I will give you an even four hundred for
+the five ponies I have picked out and the two mules that I shall
+choose."
+
+"Outrageous!" exploded the owner. "Why, those mules are worth half of
+the price you offer for the whole outfit."
+
+"Nonsense! Those mules have been used on crushers in the mines. Any one
+could see that by watching them mill about in a circle--"
+
+"Five hundred dollars," broke in the owner.
+
+"Nothing doing, sir," answered Tad. "Four hundred even."
+
+"I'll make it four-fifty-five and not a cent less."
+
+"Come along, fellows. I know where we can get a better lot for the
+money, anyway," declared Tad with a note of finality in his tone.
+
+"Don't I get my skate?" wailed Chunky.
+
+"Not at the price he asks. Never mind, I'll find you something better
+for the money." Tad had already started away. His companions got slowly
+down from the fence and followed, while the owner of the stock stood
+mopping his forehead.
+
+"Here, take 'em!" he cried. "I might as well give them away, I suppose.
+I need the money, but you're getting them for nothing."
+
+"You are wrong. As it is we are paying you a hundred dollars more than
+the outfit is worth. Here is your money. Give me a receipt in full. We
+will get the stock out some time this afternoon."
+
+"You're the hardest driver of a bargain I ever come up with," protested
+the man.
+
+"You know you don't mean that. If we hadn't known something about horses
+you know you would have done us to a turn," answered Tad, laughing.
+"Yes, I do believe in driving a bargain, but I wouldn't ask a man to
+sell me a thing at a lower price than it was worth. Just keep these
+animals cut out if you will, unless you want to go to the bother of
+cutting them out again."
+
+"I got my skate," grinned Chunky as they were walking back towards the
+hotel where they were to meet the Professor. The latter had given Butler
+the money for the stock earlier in the day, knowing full well that Tad
+could make a much better bargain than could he. Tad had made a fair
+bargain. He had obtained a good lot of stock and he planned,
+furthermore, to sell the animals after finishing their journey, which
+would reduce the cost at least to a nominal sum.
+
+The rest of the day was devoted to gathering supplies and packing. The
+boys had brought their saddles, bridles and other equipment of this
+nature with them, including tents and lighter camp equipment. In the
+meantime they had looked about for a guide, but without success. They
+were told that no doubt they would be able to find a man for their
+purpose upon their arrival at Yakutat, a hundred miles further on. The
+trail to that place, their informant told them, was a post trail which
+they would find no difficulty in following. The post rider would not be
+going through for another three days, and at any rate he undoubtedly
+would travel faster than they cared to do. It was decided, therefore,
+that they should start out without a guide on the morrow and make their
+way to Yakutat as best they might.
+
+The start was made in the early morning, the great mountains and the
+waters beneath it bathed in wondrous tints such as one finds nowhere
+outside of these far northern regions. The boys were light-hearted,
+happy, and were looking forward eagerly to experiences in the wilds of
+Alaska that should wholly satisfy their longings for activity and
+adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+TRAVELING A DANGEROUS MOUNTAIN PASS
+
+
+To the right the well-known Chilkoot Pass extended up into the mountain
+fastness, the pass that had been traveled by so many in the early rush
+for the gold fields. Chilkoot a long distance to the northeast
+intersects the White Horse Pass. It is a rugged trail, but an easier one
+to travel than the one chosen by the Pony Rider Boys for the first stage
+of their journeyings.
+
+The object of Professor Zepplin in choosing the route to the northwest
+was to take the boys into territory that had been little explored, and
+to give them their fill of what is really the wildest and most rugged
+region of the United States.
+
+"By the way," called Rector after they had gotten well started and had
+dropped the village behind them, "what became of our friends?"
+
+"The four gold diggers?" asked Butler.
+
+"They must have gone on with the ship," said Walter.
+
+"Yes, they must have," agreed Stacy.
+
+"No, they didn't," answered Tad. "I saw Dawson in town yesterday. Funny
+thing, but he seemed not to see me. In fact he tried to avoid me."
+
+"Did you let him?" questioned Chunky.
+
+"Yes. Why should I wish to force myself on anyone who doesn't want to
+see me? Not I. They are queer fellows. It isn't because they don't like
+us, but rather because they are suspicious. They are afraid someone will
+get a line on where they are going. Wouldn't it be queer if we were to
+bump into them somewhere in the interior?"
+
+"No danger of that," spoke up the Professor. "I heard Mr. Darwood say
+they were going out the Chilkoot Pass for a short distance, from which
+they might branch off."
+
+Tad chuckled softly.
+
+"Why do you laugh?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"Oh, I was just thinking of something funny."
+
+"Let's hear it," begged Stacy.
+
+"I rather think I'll keep it to myself," answered Tad, smiling. "Let
+Stacy tell you one of his funny stories."
+
+"All right, I'll tell you one," agreed Chunky readily.
+
+"Leave the telling until you get to camp," advised the Professor. "This
+is a rough trail, and you need to give it your undivided attention."
+
+"The Professor is right. We would do well to watch out where we are
+going," agreed Tad.
+
+"Yes, I dread to think what would happen to our packs were one of those
+mules, in a moment of forgetfulness, to think he was traveling in a
+circle at the end of a sweep down in a mine," said Ned.
+
+The trail they were now following was narrow. In fact, it was a mere
+gash in the side of the mountain, winding in and out with many a sharp
+turn, and there was barely room for the ponies to travel in single file.
+Above them towered the mountains for thousands of feet. Below them was a
+sheer precipice of fully two hundred feet, getting deeper all the time,
+as they continued on a gradual ascent.
+
+"I don't think I should like to be the post rider on this trail,"
+decided Ned, gazing wide-eyed at the abyss.
+
+"Especially on a dark night," added Tad.
+
+"Or any other kind of a night," piped the fat boy.
+
+"Oh, I don't know about that," answered Walter. "On a dark night you
+couldn't see the gorge. What we don't know doesn't hurt us, eh?"
+
+"There is some logic in that," agreed the Professor.
+
+Professor Zepplin was leading the way, dragging one mule after him at
+the end of a rope. Then came Ned with the second pack mule, followed by
+Tad and the other two boys. Butler wanted to follow behind the mules so
+as to keep watch of them, he not feeling any too great confidence in the
+worn-out old animals.
+
+The Professor halted at a turning-out place, where the rocks had been
+worn out by the wash of a mountain stream sufficiently wide to enable
+two horses to meet and pass by a tight pinch.
+
+"Young gentlemen, this is a wonderful country," he said.
+
+"It's kind of hilly," admitted Stacy.
+
+"In the Indian tongue, Alaska means 'the great country,'" added the
+Professor.
+
+"Why, I didn't know you talked Indian," cried Ned.
+
+"I always suspected the Professor was an Indian. Now I know it,"
+chuckled Stacy.
+
+"Young men, if you will listen I shall be glad to enlighten you as to
+some of the marvels of the country we are now in. If my recollection
+serves me right, the country has an area of about six hundred thousand
+square miles."
+
+Chunky uttered a long-drawn whistle of amazement.
+
+"Some territory that, eh, fellows?" he said, nodding.
+
+"If my recollection serves me right, Alaska is bigger than all the
+Atlantic states combined from Maine to Louisiana."
+
+"That's where they have the 'gators," said Chunky.
+
+"And with half of Texas thrown in," continued the Professor. "It has a
+coast line of about twenty-six thousand miles, a greater sea frontage
+than all the shores of the United States combined."
+
+"Why one would travel as far as if he were to go around the world in
+going over all the coast line, then, wouldn't he, Professor?" wondered
+Tad.
+
+"Exactly. Furthermore, it extends so far towards Asia that it carries
+the dominion of our great country as far west of San Francisco as New
+York is east of it, making California really a central state."
+
+"Oh, Professor. Will you please repeat that? I didn't get it," called
+the fat boy.
+
+"You must listen if you wish to hear what I am saying. Your mind
+wanders."
+
+"I hope it doesn't do much wandering here. I'll surely be a dead one if
+it does," retorted Stacy, peering down the sheer walls that dropped into
+the gloomy pass below him.
+
+"To give you another illustration, were you to combine England, Ireland,
+Scotland, France and Italy, you still would lack considerable of having
+enough to make an Alaska. Then, added to this, are the great mountains,
+thousands of feet high, and one great river--not to speak of the smaller
+ones--that flows through more than two thousand miles of wonderful
+country. I have given you a bird's-eye-view of the country, a small part
+of which you have started to explore."
+
+"Yes, a fellow needs a bird's-eye up here. He has to have or he's a
+goner," declared Chunky.
+
+"And by the way, Professor," said Tad. "Your pony is yawning with his
+left hind leg."
+
+"Haw, haw, haw! That's a good one," laughed the fat boy.
+
+"What do you mean?" wondered the Professor.
+
+"He is stretching himself. His left hind foot at this moment is
+suspended over several hundred feet of space. But don't startle him for
+goodness' sake," laughed Tad.
+
+The Professor glanced back. Afterwards the boys declared he had gone
+pale at the sight of that foot held so carelessly over the yawning
+chasm, but the Professor denied the accusation. He clucked very gently
+to the pony. The little animal lazily drew the foot in, and, after
+trying several places, at last found a spot that appeared to suit it and
+on which it placed the small foot. The boys drew a sigh of relief.
+
+"My, but that was a narrow escape," derided Ned. "Just think of it,
+Professor."
+
+"Gid ap," commanded Professor Zepplin. "Look sharp that none of you does
+worse."
+
+Now and then reaching a spot where they could get an unobstructed view
+of the distance the boys were fairly thrilled by the sight of the jagged
+peaks, sparkling in the sunlight, many hidden in the clouds and too high
+to be seen. It was an awesome sight and at such times stilled the merry
+voices of the Pony Rider Boys as they gazed off over the array of
+wonderful heights.
+
+"What are they?" asked Ned when he first caught sight of this vista of
+mountain peaks.
+
+"The first one should be Mt. Lituya and the next Mt. Fairweather," Tad
+replied.
+
+"That is correct, according to the map," spoke up the Professor. "The
+former is ten thousand feet high, the latter five thousand, five
+hundred."
+
+A series of low wondering whistles were heard from the lips of the boys.
+It did not seem possible that the distance to the tops of those
+mountains could be so great.
+
+"I should like to climb one of the highest," declared Butler.
+
+"You can't," answered the Professor sharply.
+
+"Why not, Professor?"
+
+"Because I shall not allow it."
+
+"And there's another reason," announced Stacy. "You can't because you
+can't. But if you did succeed in getting to the top think what sport you
+could have!"
+
+"How so?" asked Butler.
+
+"You could do a toboggan slide two miles long. I reckon it would land
+you somewhere over in Asia. Wouldn't that be funny?"
+
+"I don't know about that," reflected Butler.
+
+"You wouldn't know about it if you were to take the slide, either. But
+how it would surprise some of those Asiatics to see a Pony Rider Boy
+suddenly landing in their midst, coming from the nowhere," chuckled
+Stacy.
+
+"I rather think it would surprise almost anyone to have a Pony Rider Boy
+land in his midst," answered Tad with a smiling nod.
+
+"Is that some kind of joke?" demanded the fat boy.
+
+"No, that's an axiom," spoke up Rector.
+
+"An axiom?" reflected Chunky. "Oh, I know what that is. It is something
+that something else revolves around, isn't it? That's the sort of thing
+the world is supposed to revolve about. I know, for I read it in my
+geography."
+
+The boys groaned. The suspicion of a smile played about the corners of
+Professor Zepplin's mouth.
+
+"You had better go back to school rather than be traveling with real
+men," advised Ned.
+
+"Isn't that an axiom, Professor?" called Stacy indignantly.
+
+"It is not."
+
+"Then what is one?"
+
+"You are a living example of one yourself," was the whimsical reply.
+Stacy pondered over the Professor's retort all the rest of that day. But
+when noon came and passed and no stop was made for a noonday meal, the
+fat boy began to grow restive.
+
+"Don't we stop for something to eat?" he demanded.
+
+"I should like to know where?" answered Tad.
+
+"Isn't there a place wide enough for us, Tad?"
+
+"There is not."
+
+"But when are we going to find one?"
+
+"You know as much about that as I do. Remember none of us ever has been
+over this trail. For aught I know we may have to sleep standing up
+to-night."
+
+"Well, I reckon I'd just as soon fall off before dark as after. Anyhow,
+I don't propose to sleep on this trail as it looks to me now--"
+
+"Hark!"
+
+Tad's voice was sharp and incisive. He was holding up one hand to impose
+silence on his companions. Walter Perkins' face grew pale, the fat boy's
+eyes were large and frightened. Professor Zepplin halted his pony
+sharply and turning in his saddle glanced anxiously back toward his
+charges.
+
+"What is it?" stammered Rector.
+
+"I don't know," answered Tad Butler. "It's something awful, whatever it
+is."
+
+"Have no fear, young men. I know what that sound is. There is no danger
+here where we are, for--"
+
+The Professor did not complete his sentence. The distant rumbling that
+had at first attracted their attention suddenly merged into a deafening
+roar, and the trail quivered under their feet. The ponies snorted and
+threw up their heads, chafing at the bits.
+
+"Hold fast to your horses!" shouted Tad. His voice was lost in the great
+roar that now overwhelmed them, sending terror to the hearts of every
+Pony Rider Boy on that narrow ledge of rock known as the Yakutat trail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+CAUGHT IN A GIANT SLIDE
+
+
+Tad knew the meaning of that rushing, roaring sound now. A few particles
+chipped from the rocks far above them had struck him sharply in the
+face. He knew that a landslide was sweeping down.
+
+His first impulse was to urge his companions forward, but upon second
+thought he realized that this might be the very worst thing they could
+do. His quick ears had told him that the center of the slide was ahead
+of them. That was his judgment, but he knew how easily it was to be
+mistaken in a moment like this.
+
+Glancing up the boy could see nothing but a great cloud of dust that
+filled the air. His companions seemed powerless to stir, and it was
+fortunate for them that such was the case, else they might have done
+that which would have sent them to a quick death.
+
+Tad unslung his rope with the intention of casting it over a sharp rock
+that extended some six feet up above the level of the trail and on the
+mountainside. In an emergency it would serve to anchor him. He motioned
+to the others to do the same, but either they did not understand or they
+were too frightened to act.
+
+A sudden dust cloud obliterated the trail for fully five rods ahead of
+Professor Zepplin, then went shooting out into the chasm beyond, and a
+great mass of earth seemed to leap from the mountainside just above
+them. It hovered right over the center of the line of ponies for an
+agonizing second, then swept down on them.
+
+The secondary slide, which this was, had but little width, perhaps a few
+feet. Furthermore, it had fallen only a short distance, so that it had
+not had time to gain great velocity. The mass smote the pack mule just
+ahead of Tad Butler. Tad saw the pack mule's hind feet go out from under
+him. For the smallest fraction of a moment the animal stood quivering,
+then his hind hoofs slipped over the edge of the trail.
+
+The little animal was making desperate efforts to cling to the trail
+with its fore feet, at the same time trying to get its hind feet back on
+solid ground. That effort was fatal. Little by little the frightened
+beast slipped toward the great gulf. Evidently realizing the fate that
+was in store for it, the mule brayed shrilly.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys sat gazing on the scene with fascinated eyes. Even
+Professor Zepplin was at a loss for words, and at a greater loss for a
+remedy for the disaster that was upon them. Tad Butler's brain was
+working, however.
+
+Suddenly Tad raised his rope above his head and gave it three sharp
+twirls. Then he let go. The big loop dropped over the head of the
+unfortunate pack mule.
+
+"Jump on him and hold him down," shouted Tad. "Be careful that you don't
+go over."
+
+The boys hesitated slightly. Perhaps they could not have accomplished
+anything, but Butler did not wait to see. He had slipped from his own
+pony with a sharp, commanding "Whoa" to the little animal, which served
+in a measure to reassure it.
+
+The lad then sprang to the upright rock carrying the end of his rope
+with him. He did not make the mistake of making the end fast to his own
+body as he might have done in some circumstances. Instead he threw the
+rope over the rock, taking one quick turn about it. He had no more than
+taken that turn when the slack on the rope was suddenly taken up and the
+rope was drawn taut.
+
+There was no need to look around to see what had happened. Butler knew
+well enough without looking. The pack mule had slipped over the edge and
+was hanging there with the boy's lasso about its neck. The rope was
+tough rawhide, and Tad felt sure it would hold. Still, that would not
+save the mule, so he made fast and sprang to the other side of the
+trail. The mule, he found, was dying a terrible death.
+
+The freckle-faced Tad comprehended the situation in a single glance. He
+knew now that it would not be possible to save the pack animal. Drawing
+his revolver he placed the muzzle close to the head of the unfortunate
+beast and pulled the trigger.
+
+The report, in the walled-in pass, sounded like the discharge of a
+cannon.
+
+"N-n-n-now you've done it," chattered Stacy Brown.
+
+"Tad, Tad! What have you done?" cried the Professor.
+
+"I have put the poor thing out of its agony, that's all," answered
+Butler. His face was pale and his eyes troubled.
+
+"But you've killed him," protested Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Didn't you see that he was choking to death, Professor? Don't you think
+it was better to end his sufferings with a bullet rather than let him
+slowly strangle?"
+
+The Professor took off his sombrero, and, with an unsteady hand, wiped
+the perspiration from his forehead.
+
+"Too bad, too bad!" he muttered. "Yes, yes. You were right, Tad. You did
+right. You thought more quickly and more clearly than I did. We had
+better cut the rope and let him go. There is nothing else to be done, I
+suppose."
+
+"There is something else to be done, sir. There is something quite
+important to be done."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"The pack. Surely we are not going to send that pack crashing to the
+bottom of the pass. We shall have to go all the way back for more
+supplies if we do that, provided we ever find a place where we can turn
+around."
+
+"That is so. Still, lad, I am afraid it is hopeless. We never shall be
+able to get the pack."
+
+"I think it can be done, but how I don't know yet. What time is it?"
+
+"The afternoon is well along," answered the Professor.
+
+"It'll be dark soon," spoke up Ned. "We simply must get out of this
+before night or we are lost."
+
+"You forget about the length of the days up here at this time of the
+year," reminded Tad with a faint smile.
+
+"That's so," agreed Rector.
+
+"You know it doesn't get really dark until about eleven o'clock
+to-night. So you see we have plenty of time in which to get that pack
+and reach a camping place before the night gets too dark for us to see
+what we are about."
+
+Tad stepped to the edge of the trail and looked over the dead mule and
+the pack lashed to him. He saw that the pack already had slipped
+dangerously, and that a sudden jolt might send it hurtling into the
+chasm. The lad measured the distance to the pack, with his eyes, and
+also saw that he could not lean over far enough to accomplish anything.
+Then an idea occurred to him.
+
+"Have you fellows got back your nerve so that you can help me?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Chunky promptly. "Anything but jumping over. Don't
+ask me to do that, please, or I shall be under the necessity of
+returning a polite refusal."
+
+"I shan't ask you," answered Tad shortly. "How about you, Ned?"
+
+"I think I have got over my panic."
+
+"Good. Pass over two strong ropes here. We'll have that pack in no
+time."
+
+"See here, Tad. I am not going to permit you to take unnecessary risks.
+Before you go farther in this matter I want to know what you propose to
+do," insisted the Professor.
+
+"I am going to secure one of these ropes to me. The boys will lower me
+over the edge and I will fasten a second rope to the pack. I will tell
+you what to do after that."
+
+"I can't permit it!" answered the Professor decisively.
+
+"Listen to me, please. There can be no possible danger. It is perfectly
+simple. Before I go over I'll secure the rope to that rock, and in case
+the boys let go, which they'd better not, I can't fall; the rope will
+hold me."
+
+After a moment's reflection Professor Zepplin concluded that the task
+would not be attended with a very great risk after all. Besides, it was
+all-important that they get the pack and its contents, if this could be
+done without endangering any lives.
+
+"How about it, sir?" asked Tad. "Time is precious."
+
+"You may try it, but I shall see to the fastening of the rope myself.
+Make your arrangements."
+
+Tad lost no time in trying out his plan. He first secured one end of
+their strongest rope to the rock that already had played such an
+important part in their operations at that point. He next fashioned a
+non-slip loop about his body under the arms, then taking the second rope
+in his hands announced himself as ready.
+
+"Take a turn about the rock so you will have a leverage. Take up all the
+slack. That's it. Now I'm all ready."
+
+The lad let himself over the edge of the precipice without hesitation.
+There really was no great danger, but it was not a pleasant position in
+which to be placed. He secured his rope to the pack lashings and tossed
+the free end up to his friends.
+
+"How are you going to free the pack from the mule?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Cut it."
+
+"But we can't manage both you and the pack at the same time," protested
+the boys.
+
+"You don't have to. Can't you folks think of two things at the same
+time?"
+
+"I can when my thinking apparatus is working," returned Stacy. "The
+whole plant is idle at the present moment."
+
+"Listen! Fasten the pack rope to that rock. Do you get that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"First take up all the slack or you may lose the pack after all. We
+don't want any great jolt when I cut loose the lashings. Draw it up
+well. Tighter! There, that's better. Now, have you got it so that it
+will hold?"
+
+"It'll hold as long as the mountain holds together," answered Ned.
+
+[Illustration: Tad Freed the Pack.]
+
+"Then watch your rope. Here goes."
+
+Tad slit the cinch girth. He was obliged to make several efforts before
+he freed the pack, which then swung out and away from the dead mule,
+swaying back and forth for a moment or so, but safe. The boys uttered a
+cheer.
+
+"Now shall we pull you up?" cried Ned.
+
+"Now, don't be in a hurry. I'm not done yet. I want to save my lasso.
+You don't think I'm going to throw that away, do you? Pass me another
+rope, please."
+
+This was done, after which Butler secured the third rope about the neck
+of the mule. He tossed the free end up as he had done with the other
+line.
+
+"Make it fast. First see if you can't give me a little slack."
+
+"Can't do it," called Walter.
+
+"Yes you can. Try again. That's the idea. A little more. You're doing
+finely. You would make good sailors. Whoa! Make fast."
+
+Grunting and perspiring, and with aching backs, the boys made fast the
+advantage they had gained. The weight of the dead mule was now resting
+on the new rope which Butler had fastened about its neck. Some time was
+occupied in getting his lasso loose, which had drawn very tight under
+the weight of the mule.
+
+"That's what comes from having a good rope," said Tad.
+
+"Well, are you coming up? You must like it down there," cried Rector.
+
+"I'm almost ready. There, now see if you can get me up. Take up all your
+advantage and hold it until I can get my hands on the ledge and help you
+a little."
+
+Hauling Tad Butler up, a dead weight, was not the easiest thing in the
+world. They drew him up an inch or so at a time, until at last he
+fastened his hands on the edge of the trail and curled himself up. The
+boys took up the slack and made fast at his direction.
+
+"You needn't pull any more, but stand by the rope. If I slip it will
+give me a hard jolt."
+
+"I should say it would," muttered Ned. "How are you going to get up the
+rest of the way if we don't haul you?"
+
+"This way."
+
+Tad crawled up the rope hand over hand until he was able to swing one
+foot over on the trail. The rest was easy, and a moment later he was
+standing on the trail, his face red, his hair and shirt wet with
+perspiration.
+
+"Hooray!" bellowed Chunky.
+
+"Wait until we get the pack up. Don't waste your breath," grinned Tad.
+"We are only half finished."
+
+The lad surveyed the situation critically. Still he saw no other way
+than for them to haul the pack up by main strength. He told his
+companions to get ready for real work. The pack was heavier than Tad.
+
+"I--I can't do another thing," wailed Chunky.
+
+"Why can't you?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"My heart won't stand it."
+
+"Oh, pooh!" scoffed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Did you ever have a thorough physical examination, Chunky?" questioned
+Ned.
+
+"I don't know. Why?"
+
+"If you had you would no doubt have found that you hadn't any heart at
+all."
+
+"Now, Ned, that isn't fair," chided Tad laughingly. "You know Stacy has
+a heart. He has shown many times that he has. The only trouble with it
+is that it isn't as hard as it might be," added the freckle-faced boy
+with a twinkle.
+
+The fat boy wasn't quite sure whether this was a compliment or
+otherwise. He decided to think about it and make up his mind later. But
+he most emphatically refused to pull a single pound on the rope. They
+compromised by making him look out for the stock.
+
+Hauling the pack up was a slow and tedious process, for it was
+continually catching on points of rock and threatening to drop into the
+depths. Great patience was required to land it safely on the trail, but
+land it they did after working and perspiring over it for nearly half an
+hour. The Professor proposed that they move on at once, after having
+divided the pack. Tad shook his head.
+
+"Not yet," he said. "I've something else to do first."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+GOING TO BED BY DAYLIGHT
+
+
+"Something else to do?" repeated the Professor. "I know of nothing more
+to be done except to get under way and try to find a safe portage."
+
+"I've got to bury the mule, sir."
+
+"Oh! Where?"
+
+"I'll show you. Stand clear of the rope, fellows," ordered Butler.
+
+Stepping to the edge of the trail he glanced down at the body of the
+mule, swaying with a scarcely perceptible movement. Looking back to see
+that the rope was clear, Tad drew his hunting knife and stooped over,
+his companions drawing as near to the edge as they dared.
+
+Butler cut the rope that held the dead mule. The rope suddenly sprang
+back as the unfortunate pack mule's body shot down into the shadowy
+pass. The other boys instinctively drew back. Their nerve was not quite
+equal to standing on the brink to watch the sight. With Tad it was
+different. He seemed not to be at all affected by great heights or great
+depths. He stood with the toes of his boots over the edge, gazing down
+until a faint sound from far below told him that the body had struck.
+
+"That's all, fellows," he said, turning back to them. "I reckon we had
+better do as the Professor suggests, and get under way at once. I will
+confess that this bracing air is having some effect on my appetite."
+
+"Don't speak of it," begged Stacy. "I am trying to forget that I have an
+appetite, but it's awful hard work."
+
+"Too bad about the mule, isn't it?" asked Rector soberly.
+
+Tad nodded.
+
+"Yes, I should say it is," agreed Stacy. "There's eight dollars of my
+good money gone down into that hole."
+
+"Never mind. He was wind-broken and undoubtedly would have played out
+before we got through the mountains. I am glad it wasn't the other one,"
+answered Butler cheerfully. "How is the trail ahead, Professor?"
+
+"I haven't looked."
+
+Bidding them wait until he made an inspection, Tad walked ahead. He
+found the narrow trail filled with dirt and shale rock; there were many
+tons of it heaped up on the trail.
+
+"Oh, fudge!" laughed the boy. "Fate is determined to make us turn back.
+But we won't! We are going through, even if we have to build a tunnel.
+Get out the shovel, Ned."
+
+This necessitated undoing the bundle that held all the tools of the
+outfit, and also entailed the unloading of the pack on the back of the
+remaining pack mule. Ned soon came trotting up with the shovel. He
+uttered a long-drawn whistle when he saw the blocked trail.
+
+"We never shall be able to get through that," he groaned.
+
+"Oh, yes we shall. I'll shovel until I am tired, then you take hold and
+make the dirt fly."
+
+"I'll do that all right," returned Rector. "I am too keen for my dinner
+and supper to delay matters any more than I am obliged to. We ought to
+make Chunky take a hand."
+
+"No, I wouldn't risk it. Before he had finished he would have lost the
+shovel overboard. It is the only one we have. Here goes!"
+
+Tad did make the dirt fly. He was a sturdy young man, all muscle and
+grit. He shoveled for twenty minutes, working his way through the great
+heap of dirt. Then he straightened up, his face flushed and perspiring.
+
+"Go to it, Ned!"
+
+Ned did, with a will. An hour and a half was consumed in clearing the
+trail, and, when they finished, both boys were wet with perspiration.
+
+"I think we had better walk for the present," suggested Tad. "We shall
+stiffen up if we ride in our present overheated condition."
+
+Ned nodded.
+
+"I can't be much lamer than I am. I feel as if I had a broken hinge in
+my back," he declared.
+
+They started on, moving with extreme care that they might not meet with
+another such disaster. The remaining pack mule was a much better animal
+than the one they had lost. He was possessed of better sense, too, and
+seemed to understand that great responsibilities rested on his
+shoulders.
+
+As for the trail, it was the same rugged, narrow path that they had been
+following for hours.
+
+"What if we should meet someone here?" wondered Walter apprehensively.
+
+"Back up or jump over," answered Ned.
+
+Stacy shivered.
+
+"I don't like it at all," he muttered.
+
+The Professor uttered a shout.
+
+"What is it?" cried the boys all together.
+
+"Land ho!" was the answer.
+
+The boys craned their necks to see what the Professor had discovered,
+but he was just rounding a bend beyond which they could not see. When
+they had made the turn the boys shouted, too. The trail, they saw,
+opened out into a broad pass. The ground there, though uneven, was
+fairly level, thickly wooded with slender Alaskan cedar, its yellow,
+lacy foliage drooping gracefully from the branches. Tall and straight,
+the cedars shot up into the air until it seemed as if their slender tops
+pierced the sky.
+
+"How beautiful!" cried Tad.
+
+"Wouldn't they make fish poles, though?" chuckled Ned.
+
+"Yes, we wouldn't have to leave home when we went fishing," answered
+Stacy. "We could just sit on the back porch and drop a hook in the water
+at the back of the old pasture lot."
+
+"How high do you think those trees are, Professor?" asked Tad.
+
+"All of a hundred and fifty feet. A marvelous growth."
+
+"I think I can appreciate the beauty of it more after I get something
+inside of me," spoke up the fat boy. "Do we get anything to eat or do we
+absorb landscape for our supper?"
+
+"I reckon we had better get busy," agreed Tad laughingly.
+
+They began unloading the packs at once. By the time the boys came in
+with the wood the spot had assumed a really camp-like appearance. The
+pots were filled with water and Tad began building a structure that was
+to be their campfire when he was ready to touch it off.
+
+"Did you find any birch bark, Ned?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, there it is."
+
+"Oh, thank you. The cedar will burn all right, but it is a good thing to
+have the birch. We shall have a supper worth while in a few minutes.
+Stacy, get busy and prepare the coffee."
+
+For once the fat boy did not demur. He was too hungry, and was willing
+to do almost anything that would hurry the supper along. Not a mouthful
+had any of them eaten since breakfast.
+
+The ponies were browsing contentedly, but the mule had lain down and
+gone to sleep. The day was still bright, though the air had grown cooler
+than when the sun was at its height. Still, a warm glow suffused the
+faces of the Pony Rider Boys because they had been exercising. They
+usually were busy, and not one of the lads, unless it were Stacy Brown,
+had a lazy streak in him. Stacy was constitutionally opposed to doing
+anything that looked like real work.
+
+The cedar quickly blazed up into a crackling fire, consuming the
+foliage. Tad took some of the brands and made a small cooking fire that
+soon was a glowing bed of coals. Over this he broiled the bacon, toasted
+the bread, and cooked the coffee without the least apparent effort.
+
+Stacy Brown sat regarding the operations. Ned said that Stacy reminded
+him of a dog watching the preparation of its dinner, but the fat boy
+took no notice of Ned's comparison.
+
+At last the meal was ready and the boys gathered around the spread that
+was laid near the campfire, and began to eat with good appetites. Ned
+nearly choked on a biscuit, and Tad swallowed a drink of water the wrong
+way, while Walter accidentally kicked over the coffee pot, the contents
+spilling over the Professor's ankle to the great damage of the
+Professor's skin at that point.
+
+"Here, here! Is this a football scrimmage or are you young gentlemen at
+your meal?" demanded the Professor. "I've seen nothing to indicate the
+latter."
+
+"Oh, Professor," begged Tad laughingly. "Aren't you pretty hard on us?"
+
+"You did perfectly right, Professor," approved Stacy. "Their manners are
+bad and I am glad you have called them to account. Why, their example is
+so bad that I have been fearful all the time of getting into bad habits
+myself."
+
+Ned gave him a warning look.
+
+"Wait!" warned Rector.
+
+"I can't. I'm too hungry."
+
+"Perhaps we have been rather rude, Professor," admitted Tad. "I beg your
+pardon."
+
+"Show your repentance by making a fresh pot of coffee, as I have most of
+the first lot in my stocking," reminded Professor Zepplin.
+
+It seemed odd to be eating supper in broad daylight, whereas they
+ordinarily ate in the twilight or after dark. After supper, and when the
+remains were cleared away, the boys strolled about, talking. At ten
+o'clock the Professor called that it was time to turn in.
+
+"But it isn't dark yet," protested Ned.
+
+"The nights are short. Unless you turn in early you will not want to get
+up in the morning," reminded Professor Zepplin.
+
+"He never does," averred Walter.
+
+"I don't want to turn in at chicken hours," objected Stacy.
+
+"Little boys should be in bed early," said Tad smilingly.
+
+"That's what they made me do when I was a baby. They'd tuck me in my
+little crib and give me a bottle and sing me to sleep. What time does it
+get daylight, Professor?" questioned the fat boy.
+
+"As a matter of fact it hardly gets dark," answered the Professor. "We
+shall have only about three hours of real night, I think. That is about
+the way it has been since we have been in this latitude. You will find
+it more difficult to sleep with the morning light in your eyes than with
+this light, so go to bed."
+
+"I am thinking the same. Good-night, all. Don't any of you boys dare
+snore to-night. Remember we are sleeping in rather close quarters,"
+reminded Butler.
+
+"One of you may come in with me," offered the Professor.
+
+"No, thank you, we shall do very well as it is," replied Tad.
+
+Stacy had the usual number of complaints to make. The cedar odor
+prevented his breathing properly, the sharp stickers on the cedar boughs
+poked through his pajamas and into his skin. He voiced all the
+complaints he could think of, after which he settled down to long,
+rhythmic snores that could be heard all around the place, inside and
+out. The purple twilight merged into blue shadows, then into black,
+impenetrable darkness that swallowed up the pass and the two little
+white tents of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+AN INTRUDER IN THE CAMP
+
+
+      "W'en de screech-owl light on de gable en'
+        En holler, Whoo-oo! oh-oh!
+      Den you bettah keep yo' eyeball peel,
+        Kase dey bring bad luck t' yo',
+          Oh-oh! oh-oh!"
+
+"Stop that noise!" shouted an angry voice from the tent occupied by the
+boys.
+
+For a few moments silence reigned in the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Then the voice of the singer from somewhere outside was raised again.
+
+      "W'en de ole black cat widdee yella eyes
+        Slink round like she atter ah mouse,
+      Den yo' bettah take keer yo'self en frien's,
+        Kase dey's sho'ly a witch en de house."
+
+"Who is making that unearthly noise?" demanded the Professor in an
+irritated voice.
+
+"That's Stacy singing," answered Tad politely.
+
+"Singing?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Nonsense! Does he think he can sing?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Humph! I shall be obliged if some of you boys will remove that
+impression from his mind so that I may go back to sleep."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+      "W'en de puddle duck 'e leave de pon'
+        En start to comb e fedder--"
+
+A stone struck the rock on which Stacy Brown was sitting. Some small
+particles flew up and hit him in the neck.
+
+"Hey, you fellows quit that!"
+
+      "Den yo' bettah take yo' umbrell,
+        Kase dey's gwine to be wet wedder."
+
+"Yeow!"
+
+The fat boy left the rock, jumping right up into the air, for the wild
+yell had seemed to come out of the rock itself. At that juncture three
+pajama-clad figures rose from behind the rock and threw themselves upon
+him.
+
+"Let go of my neck!" howled Chunky, fighting desperately to free
+himself, not having caught a glance at his assailants, though he knew
+well enough who they were. Stacy had calculated on aggravating them to
+the danger point, then slipping away and hiding until breakfast time.
+But he had gone a little too far with his so-called singing.
+
+The boys picked the fat boy up and carried him, kicking and yelling, to
+a point just beyond the camp where a glacial stream trickled down,
+forming in a pool some three feet deep near the trail.
+
+"I--I'll get even with you fellows for this. Can't you let me alone?" he
+cried.
+
+Reaching the spring they held him by the feet and soused him into the
+icy water head first, thrusting the fat boy in until his head struck the
+hard bottom. He was howling lustily, howling and choking, when his head
+was out of water.
+
+"You'll need your 'old ombrell' when we have done with you," cried Ned.
+
+"You will wake us up at this hour with your unearthly screeching, will
+you?" demanded Tad.
+
+"I reckon the Professor will give you a spanking for disturbing his
+morning slumbers," added Walter Perkins.
+
+"That's enough, fellows. Remember the water is cold," warned Butler.
+"Let him go."
+
+They took Tad literally. They did let the fat boy go. He landed on his
+head on a hard rock when they let go of him, and Stacy rolled on his
+back yelling lustily.
+
+"Look out! There comes the Professor Stacy."
+
+Walter shouted the warning just in time. Professor Zepplin, stern of
+face, gorgeous in a pair of new pajamas, a stick in one hand came
+stalking toward the group. Stacy saw him coming. The fat boy bounded to
+his feet in a hurry. He was especially interested in the cedar limb with
+its sharp broken points, grasped so firmly in the right hand of the
+Professor.
+
+"I reckon I'll see you all later," muttered Chunky as he made a bolt for
+his tent. Either some one tripped him or he tripped himself. At least,
+he measured his length on the ground just as the stick came in contact
+with his body. It was not a hard blow, but merely a tap of reminder. The
+Professor was now smiling broadly.
+
+Stacy leaped to his feet and ran, howling at the top of his voice, and
+threatening dire revenge on the Professor. Professor Zepplin was plainly
+undismayed, for he pursued with strides that made the merry onlookers
+think of the seven-league boots.
+
+"Say, can't we arbitrate, without an appeal to force?" bellowed back
+Stacy as he reached the tent.
+
+"We cannot," boomed the Professor's deep voice. "This is an instance in
+which the punitive expedition must go through."
+
+_Whack! Whack!_ That stick played a tattoo that made Stacy sore in
+more senses than one. Instead of burrowing deeper into the cedar boughs,
+he got up hastily. In his desperation he seized the Professor's feet,
+giving a mighty tug at them.
+
+"Here, stop that!" protested Professor Zepplin, laughing.
+
+He reached for the fat boy, but Chunky, with a new exertion of his
+strength, brought the tutor down to a sitting position.
+
+"Retreat in good order, while you have a chance!" called Walter Perkins.
+Three grinning faces met the fugitive at the tent. But Stacy bowled
+Walter over, leaped the foot that Rector extended to trip him, and then
+dashed for the shelter of the tall cedars, where he hid.
+
+There he shivered in his wet pajamas. It was three o'clock in the
+morning, but young Brown cared not for time. His stomach told him only
+that it was high breakfast time. The gnawing under his belt-line
+continued.
+
+"I wish I hadn't been quite so fresh!" thought the boy, dismally. "It's
+all right to have fun, but there are times when a square meal is worth
+more."
+
+However, the Professor, though he was really enjoying the situation,
+looked anything but amiable.
+
+"I'll try the crowd, anyway," thought Stacy, ruefully. "I've got to get
+near the kitchen kit soon. Hello, the camp!"
+
+There was no response. Stacy emerged from his hiding place and began to
+sing the song he had learned from Rastus Rastus in Kentucky.
+
+One end of the tent was suddenly raised.
+
+"Do you want another ducking?" demanded the angry voice of Ned Rector.
+
+"If you're man enough to give it to me," returned the fat boy.
+
+Ned came tumbling out, but by the time he had straightened up, Stacy was
+nowhere in sight. The fat boy had stolen in among the trees whence he
+watched the progress of events. Ned returned to his tent in disgust. No
+further objection was heard from the Professor as to Chunky's vocal
+exercises.
+
+"There's no use trying to sleep with that boy bawling away out there.
+What does he think he is, a bird?" demanded Tad.
+
+"Sounds more like a hoot owl, the bird he was telling us about," averred
+Ned.
+
+"I guess I'll get up. So long as he is abroad there will be no more rest
+in this camp for the rest of the night."
+
+"Won't he catch cold? He must be all wet," said Walter solicitously.
+
+"I hope to goodness he does," retorted Rector. "I hope he gets such a
+cold that he can't speak for a week. Then we'll have some peace."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't put it quite so strongly as that," laughed Tad.
+"However, I guess he will get the cold all right."
+
+Tad dressed himself. After finishing, he thought to look at his watch
+and was disgusted to find it was only a few minutes after three o'clock.
+Ned declared that he was going to sleep again if Tad would keep the fat
+boy quiet. Butler promised to do his best and went out. He looked about
+for Stacy but failed to see him, so the freckle-faced boy sat down on
+the rock where Chunky had sat singing.
+
+"Hello, Tad," piped a voice behind him, causing Butler to jump a little.
+Stacy had been hiding behind the rock, to which place he had crept from
+the cedar forest.
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it?"
+
+"I guess so. I'm cold and--and hungry."
+
+"Go back to the tent. You should put on some dry clothes."
+
+"You don't care whether I freeze or not. Go get them for me, please."
+
+"I will not. You got yourself into this difficulty, now get out of it as
+best you may," answered Butler. "There won't be any breakfast for three
+hours yet. Tighten your belt."
+
+"I--I haven't any belt. I haven't my clothes on."
+
+"That's too bad," retorted Tad unfeelingly.
+
+"What'd you soak me for?"
+
+"A cold bath in the morning is an excellent tonic. Hadn't you ever heard
+that?"
+
+"If I had I'd know now that it isn't true. I didn't think you could be
+as mean as that, Tad."
+
+"I didn't think you could be so mean as to wake us up at three o'clock
+in the morning with your screeching. Why did you do it?"
+
+"I--I was exercising my voice."
+
+"I should say so. But take my advice. Don't use it that way again,
+especially so early in the morning. You'll ruin it and then you won't be
+able to sing at all."
+
+"That would be a catastrophe," mumbled Chunky.
+
+"A blessing to the Pony Rider Boys community, you mean. Hello!"
+
+"What is it?" cried Stacy.
+
+Tad was staring fixedly at a rope suspended between two small cedars
+near the tents. It was on this that some of the provisions had been hung
+the previous evening.
+
+"Where is that ham?" he demanded, apparently not having heard his
+companion's question.
+
+"What ham?"
+
+"The one I hung up there last night?"
+
+"I--I don't know. I didn't eat it."
+
+Tad got up and hastened to the "stores-line," as they called the rope
+that held their meats and other provisions. He discovered that several
+other articles besides the ham were missing. Even the pieces of twine
+with which the provisions had been fastened to the line were missing.
+
+"Well, if this doesn't beat everything!" wondered Butler.
+
+"It does," agreed Chunky, who had made bold to approach. "I hope the
+fellows won't blame me, but I reckon they will. They lay everything to
+me."
+
+Tad did not reply. He was trying to make up his mind what had become of
+the missing provisions. He turned sharply to Stacy.
+
+"See here, you aren't playing tricks on us, are you?"
+
+Stacy indignantly protested that he was not.
+
+"I knew you'd try to put it on me," he grumbled. "I'm pretty bad, I
+know, but I don't steal."
+
+"Stop it! I haven't accused you of stealing. Of course I know you
+wouldn't do that, but if you have taken the stuff and hidden it for a
+joke, say so now before I call the others. They might not take kindly to
+your joke after your early morning vocal exercises."
+
+"I didn't. I don't know any more about it than you do."
+
+Stacy's lips were blue with cold and he was chattering. Tad suddenly
+observed these signs of cold and felt sorry for the boy.
+
+"When the others come out, you duck in and put on some dry clothes. You
+will have plenty of time. I don't think they will bother you. Oh, Ned!
+Professor!" called Tad.
+
+Ned Rector, Professor Zepplin and Walter came hurrying out.
+
+"Isn't there any rest at all in this camp?" protested Ned.
+
+"That is what I was about to inquire," declared the Professor.
+
+"What! _You_ here?" demanded Rector, fixing a menacing eye on the
+fat boy. "Has he been cutting up again?"
+
+"It's something else this time."
+
+"What is it?" questioned Professor Zepplin sharply.
+
+"Did any of you folks remove the ham and the other stuff from the line
+last night?" asked Butler.
+
+"No," replied Ned.
+
+"Of course not. You were the last one to attend to those things," said
+the Professor.
+
+"I helped him tie them up," interjected "Walter.
+
+"And--and I watched him--them--do it," added Stacy.
+
+"Yes, that's about all you ever do do," objected Ned.
+
+"What's this you say?" questioned Professor Zepplin. "The ham missing?"
+
+"Yes, sir. It is nowhere about," Tad informed him.
+
+"Then we must have had a visit from a bear or some other animal."
+
+"What would a bear want with a rope?" asked Butler.
+
+"A rope?"
+
+"I left our quarter-inch reserve rope coiled at the foot of that tree
+last night. It isn't there now."
+
+"Stacy Brown, do you know anything about this?" demanded the Professor
+sternly.
+
+"What'd I tell you, Tad? I knew you'd be accusing me for the whole
+business. I told Tad you would blame me."
+
+"Go put on some dry garments," commanded the Professor.
+
+Stacy lost no time in getting to the tent.
+
+"What do you make of it, Tad?" asked Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I can make only one thing out of it. There has been an intruder in the
+camp while we slept. That intruder must have been a man. Bears do not
+carry away ropes. Bears do not untie knots and take the strings away
+with them," replied Tad Butler in a convincing tone.
+
+Stacy Brown poked his head through the tent opening.
+
+"What we need in this camp is a watch dog," he shouted.
+
+Ned Rector shied a tin can at him, whereat the fat boy ducked in out of
+sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A MYSTERY UNSOLVED
+
+
+"But surely whoever was here must have left some trace," protested
+Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Perhaps you may be able to find it. I can't," answered Tad.
+
+"We'll all look," cried Ned.
+
+Tad nodded, and while they were scanning the ground he walked about the
+outskirts of the camp with his glances on the ground. There was not a
+footprint, not a thing to indicate that any person outside of themselves
+had been near the camp. Tad was looking in particular for the strings
+with which the stuff had been tied to the rope. Not finding these he was
+certain that some human being had been in the camp.
+
+"We shall have to make the best of it and let it go at that," he said,
+returning to his companions. "Shall we go to sleep again?"
+
+"Sleep!" shouted Ned.
+
+Stacy popped his head out to see what the shout was about. He ducked
+back again upon encountering Rector's angry gaze.
+
+"If it isn't Stacy Brown raising a row it's Tad Butler, and if it isn't
+Tad it's a midnight robber."
+
+"Or else Ned Rector himself," added the Professor. "If you young
+gentlemen will excuse me I think I shall put on some clothes. We might
+as well have our breakfast and get an early start, since we are all
+awake."
+
+"I was going to suggest that," replied Tad. "I'll go rub down the ponies
+while the rest of you get the breakfast."
+
+"Shall we dress before or after?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Before, of course," returned the Professor.
+
+Breakfast was not a very merry meal that morning. Tad was chagrined to
+think a person could get into their camp and steal a ham without his
+having heard the intruder. Either he had slept more soundly than usual,
+or else their late visitor had been unusually stealthy.
+
+"I'll tell you what I think," spoke up Rector after a period of silence.
+
+"Out with it," answered the Professor.
+
+"I'll wager that some of these prospectors have ducked in here and taken
+our stuff. There must be plenty of them in the mountains hereabouts."
+
+Tad shook his head.
+
+"I don't think so. I have an idea."
+
+"What is your idea?" questioned Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Are there Indians up here?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Many of them."
+
+"It was an Indian who did this job. No white man could get away with it
+so skilfully. If it was, as I suspect, we might as well give it up,"
+concluded Butler.
+
+"Oh, I kissed that ham good-by a long time ago," piped Stacy solemnly.
+
+"I don't agree with any of you," said Ned. "I think the ham, unable to
+endure Chunky's singing, took wings and flew away. Either that or it was
+afraid he would kiss it again. He said he had kissed it good-by."
+
+"You are wrong," declared Walter. "If Stacy had got that close to the
+ham he would have eaten it."
+
+"You're right," agreed the Professor with an emphatic nod.
+
+"I've got a bone to pick with you, too, Walt Perkins," warned Stacy.
+
+"A ham-bone?" twinkled Tad.
+
+"No, a drumstick."
+
+"The probability is that we shall never know any more about the affair
+than we do now," decided the Professor. "Break camp as soon as we have
+finished breakfast and we will get under way. Have you looked to see
+which way the trail leads from this point, Tad?"
+
+"Yes, sir. That way," replied Tad, pointing.
+
+"Northwest?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Camp was broken in short order and within an hour they were on their
+way. Though the country was very rough and rugged and the going awful,
+they found the trail narrow and perilous only in spots. Generally they
+found it perfectly safe. That night they camped in a pass through which
+flowed a rushing glacial stream. Tall cottonwoods lined the stream and
+giant arborvitae was thick and almost impassable a short distance back
+from the stream. The Professor explained that this arborvitae was
+ordinarily found about glaciers, and in cool, dim fiords.
+
+Determined not to be robbed of their provisions again, Tad led a string
+through the loops made in tying the meats to the provision line. He
+carried one end of the string into his tent and when he turned in he
+tied the end to his wrist.
+
+Long after midnight he felt a jolt at his wrist that brought him to his
+feet in an instant. Another jolt followed.
+
+The boy slipped the twine from his wrist and hurried out. The night was
+not so dark but that he could make out objects distinctly. There was
+nothing of an alarming nature in sight. He examined the provisions. None
+had been tampered with.
+
+Considerably mystified, Tad returned to his tent, after rearranging his
+burglar alarm, and lay down. He had just dozed off when there came
+another tug more violent than the others.
+
+"Hang it! Something is at those provisions," he muttered.
+
+Tad once more slipped out. This time he remained out for a long time. He
+sat down behind the tent where he waited and watched. Nothing of a
+disturbing nature occurred. He could not understand it.
+
+"There must be ghosts around here," he muttered. "If there are, I reckon
+I'll catch them before the night is over."
+
+He grew weary of waiting for the "ghosts," after a time, and returning
+to the tent went to bed. Three times after that was the boy dragged out
+by a violent tug at the rope, and three times did he return without
+having discovered the cause.
+
+"I think I begin to smell a mouse," thought Tad Butler.
+
+He lay down. Again came the tugs at the string. But Tad apparently gave
+no heed to them. After a time he began snoring, but stopped suddenly,
+pinching himself to keep awake. A few moments later he got up quietly
+and went out. This time he ran the fingers of one hand along the
+provision line. The fingers stopped suddenly as they came in contact
+with a second string the size of the one he had used for a burglar alarm
+and evidently from the same ball of twine.
+
+"I thought so," chuckled the boy. "More of Chunky Brown's tricks. I
+reckon I'll teach him a lesson and give him a surprise at the same time.
+Let's see. Yes, I have it now."
+
+Tad found a quarter inch rope. He made a slip noose at one end, working
+the honda or knot back and forth until it slipped easily. In reality it
+was a lasso. He tucked the loop under the rear of the tent, then crawled
+cautiously in after it. Great caution was necessary in order not to
+disturb the other occupants of the tent, though the boys were sleeping
+soundly, Stacy snoring thunderously. The fat boy's feet protruded from
+under his blanket. Tad found them after a little careful groping. He
+wished to make certain that he had the right feet. Satisfying himself on
+this point he slipped the noose over the feet and wriggled out.
+
+Tad then drew the rope carefully about a slender tree, taking care that
+there might be no strain on the other end about the fat boy's feet.
+Using the tree as a leverage Butler gave the rope a quick jerk. A slight
+commotion in the tent followed.
+
+He now gave the rope a mighty tug. A wild yell from the interior of the
+tent told that his effort had been successful. The freckle-faced boy now
+began pulling with all his might, hand over hand. Stacy Brown's yells
+were loud and frightful. To his howls were added those of another voice.
+Stacy was sliding out from under the rear of the tent feet first, being
+dragged along on his back as Butler hauled in on the rope.
+
+But Stacy was not alone. Instead of one boy there were two. One of
+Chunky's feet and one of Ned Rector's was fast in the loop. Tad had made
+a mistake and selected a foot from each of the two boys.
+
+"Something's got me!" bellowed Chunky. "Help, help!"
+
+"It's got me, too," yelled Rector. "It's got me by the foot."
+
+"Oh, wow, wow! Help, help!"
+
+The two boys were fighting and clawing each other in their excitement.
+Chunky fastened a hand in the hair of his companion fetching away a
+handful. Ned retaliated by smiting Chunky on the nose. Then both grabbed
+hold of the tent wall as they slipped out from under it feet first. The
+tent swayed and threatened to collapse.
+
+Walter Perkins was struggling about in the dark, shouting to know what
+had happened. Professor Zepplin roared out a similar inquiry and sprang
+from his bed of boughs. He fell out into the open in his haste, but the
+night was so dark that he was unable to make out a single object. He
+could hear the two boys yelling at the rear of their tent, struggling
+and fighting to free themselves from the grip on their ankles.
+
+The hauling ceased suddenly. Ned reached down and freed his foot, the
+same movement freeing that of the fat boy.
+
+At this juncture Tad Butler dashed out from the tent, to which he had
+run after having thrown the freed rope away.
+
+"Here, here, what's going on here?" he shouted.
+
+"Something got us. It was a snake," howled Chunky. "Oh, wow; oh, wow!"
+
+"A snake? Nonsense!" exploded the Professor. "There are no snakes in
+Alaska."
+
+"There's one here and he's the biggest one you ever saw. Why, he twisted
+right around my leg and dragged me out. I think he bit me, too," wailed
+Chunky.
+
+"Somebody make a light here," commanded the Professor.
+
+"That's what I say," shouted Ned. "You pulled half the hair out of my
+head, Chunky. I'll be even with you for that."
+
+"Did the Thing get you, too?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Get me? I should say it did. I never had anything grip me like that."
+
+Tad was busy starting the fire. The Professor, by this time, realized
+that the boys were in earnest; that something really had happened to
+disturb them, though he had not the least idea that it had been as bad
+as they said.
+
+The fire began snapping briskly. Tad was bending over it in his pajamas,
+standing as far back as possible to avoid the sparks. Glancing at the
+others out of the corners of his eyes, he observed that Stacy's face was
+pale; Ned Rector's was flushed and angry, and Ned kept passing a hand
+over his head where the hair had come out. Tad could barely keep back
+the laughter.
+
+"Now, show me!" demanded the Professor after the camp had been lighted
+up.
+
+Stacy went into an elaborate explanation of what had occurred so far as
+he knew. He said something had grabbed them by the ankles and dragged
+them out under the tent. He showed where they had been dragged. The
+backs of their pajamas were evidence enough of this fact, the dirt being
+fairly ground into the cloth.
+
+The Professor fixed his keen eyes on the freckled face of Tad Butler.
+The Professor was plainly suspicious, but he did not voice his
+suspicion. Instead, he smiled to himself.
+
+"I am going back to bed, young gentlemen, and I trust there will be no
+further disturbance in this camp to-night. If there is I shall be under
+the necessity of taking a hand in it myself."
+
+"If Ned and Chunky will behave themselves, I don't believe there will be
+any further trouble, sir," said Tad.
+
+Stacy fixed a glance of quick comprehension on Butler, and Tad saw in
+that one glance that the fat boy's suspicions were aroused, too. Stacy
+was sharper than Tad had given him credit for being.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN THE HOME OF THE THLINKITS
+
+
+Stacy did not speak of his suspicions that night, but on the following
+morning he was up earlier than the others, looking here and there about
+the camp. He was unusually silent at breakfast time, but Ned Rector on
+the contrary had a great deal to say.
+
+"Somebody was in this camp again last night. I don't know what he was
+trying to do, but whatever it was, he made a good start," said Ned.
+
+"Perhaps it was the work of Indians," suggested Walter.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised," replied the Professor dryly.
+
+"Perhaps," agreed Tad, "the Indian was after another ham and thought he
+had hold of one when he got Chunky."
+
+"You keep on and I'll say something!" snorted the fat boy.
+
+"I have been looking at that red mark on my ankle," continued Ned. "It
+was a rope that did the business. How do you suppose they ever managed
+to tie it to our ankles without waking us up?"
+
+"I thought you did wake up," answered Tad with twinkling eyes.
+
+"We did afterwards, but I don't understand it at all. Didn't you hear
+anything, Tad?"
+
+"If I remember rightly I heard two boys yelling like frightened babies."
+
+Once again Chunky snorted, but held his peace. Matters were rapidly
+nearing a crisis. Chunky knew that he had played a mean trick on Tad by
+tying a string to the provision line and giving it a jerk to wake his
+companion up, thus making him believe someone was at the provisions. He
+suspected that the trick had been turned on him, but he wasn't quite
+sure. Stacy was covertly watching every expression on the face of Tad
+Butler, every word that was uttered, Tad in the meantime continuing to
+worry his fat companion. The latter stood it as long as possible. Then
+he arose rather hastily and strode around to the rear of the tent,
+returning a moment later with a rope in his hand.
+
+Tad recognized it instantly.
+
+"Here, if you want to know what got hold of us last night. Look at
+this!" exclaimed Chunky.
+
+"What is it?" questioned Rector.
+
+"It's a rope. Don't you know a rope when you see one? It is the same
+rope that dragged us from the tent by our ankles last night. Oh, this is
+a fine outfit!" jeered Chunky.
+
+No one spoke for a few seconds.
+
+"Ah!" breathed the Professor. "I begin to see a light."
+
+"So did we," returned Stacy. "But it wasn't so very light that you could
+notice it particularly."
+
+Ned started up, his face flushing violently.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that one of our outfit dragged you and me out by
+the heels last night?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Who did it?" cried Rector angrily. "I can thrash the fellow who did
+that. Who is he, I say?"
+
+"Well, I may be wrong, but from the look of his face, I should say that
+Tad Butler knows something about the affair. Mind you, I'm not saying he
+did it, but I reckon he knows the man who did," observed Stacy.
+
+"Tad Butler, did you do that?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Stacy seems to think I did."
+
+"Then I've nothing more to say."
+
+"I--I thought you were going to whale the fellow who did it," reminded
+Stacy.
+
+"I reckon I've changed my mind," muttered Ned. "I'll have a talk with
+Tad later, though."
+
+"No time like the present," laughed Butler.
+
+"Young gentlemen, enough of this. I am amazed at you, Tad," rebuked
+Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Tell them the rest, Stacy," nodded Tad.
+
+The fat boy hung his head.
+
+"Maybe I was to blame, after all. I reckon Tad was after me, not Ned,"
+admitted Stacy.
+
+"What had you done?" questioned the Professor with a poor attempt at
+sternness.
+
+"I--I tied a string to the provision line. You know Tad had a line tied
+to it with one end around his wrist so that he would know if an intruder
+began to interfere with the provisions?"
+
+"Yes. Go on."
+
+"Well, as I told you, I tied another string to the rope. After Tad got
+to sleep I pulled the rope. He went out to see what had done it. I guess
+he didn't find it, for he went out several times after that. Oh, I made
+him dance a merry dance," chuckled Stacy. "By and by I went to sleep.
+That was the last I knew until I found myself sliding out of the tent on
+my back."
+
+Everyone shouted. Stacy's droll way of telling the story was too much
+for them.
+
+"So that was the way of it, eh?" questioned Ned.
+
+"So Stacy says," nodded Butler.
+
+"And you didn't mean to drag me out?"
+
+"No; the fellow who did the dragging must have gotten hold of the wrong
+foot," replied Butler.
+
+"Then I forgive you. I would endure almost anything for the sake of
+seeing Chunky get the worst of it."
+
+"Well, I like that!" shouted the fat boy. "I'm glad that you, too, got
+some of the worst of it. Why didn't you tie the rope around his neck
+while you were about it, Tad, and make a thorough job of it?"
+
+Nevertheless, Stacy was set upon having his revenge on Tad, even though
+he was himself to blame for the trick that had been played on him. The
+sun shone over the camp of the Pony Rider Boys a few hours later, and
+the rough hike was again taken up. It was the middle of the fifth day
+after the roping experience when the boys first caught sight of Yakutat
+Bay. Huge cakes of floating ice were being thrown up into the air by the
+strong gale that swept in from the Pacific, the whitened ice in strong
+contrast with the black sands of the beach.
+
+Towering above it all, nearly five miles in the air, stood Mt. St. Elias
+glistening in the mid-day sun. Rushing streams roared down the sides of
+the mountain, thundering through deep gorges cut into the rocks through
+perhaps thousands of years of wear. It was a tremendous spectacle,
+exceeding in impressiveness anything the boys had ever looked upon.
+
+At their feet lay the wreck of the rude cabins of the early Thlinkit
+Indians. There was no sign of any other village. The masts of a few
+small schooners were visible on the southern side of the bay. It was in
+this part of the waters that ships came to anchor. Here they were not
+exposed to the heavy swell from the Pacific, being sheltered by islands
+on the southern side.
+
+An Indian wrapped in a gaudy blanket went striding stolidly past the
+Pony Rider party.
+
+"Will you tell us where the town is?" called Tad.
+
+Without looking at the questioner, the Indian pointed up the hill to the
+right.
+
+"He means on top of the mountain," interpreted Stacy.
+
+"No. There is a trail leading up through the trees," answered Tad. "But
+it can't be much of a settlement."
+
+"There must be quite a town here," said the Professor. "I have read that
+in the year 1796 the Russians established a penal colony here, having
+erected quite a plant. A city was laid out at the time, though I think I
+have heard that the penal buildings were burned down. But we shall find
+out more when we get to it."
+
+The climb was a stiff one--almost straight up, it seemed to the boys.
+Three miles of this through a forest-bordered trail brought them to the
+village.
+
+"This certainly is some town," laughed Tad.
+
+They saw before them a general store, two or three shops that looked as
+if they were for the purpose of supplying miners' outfits, with a few
+scattering cottages here and there. To the left they could make out the
+smoke from the new Thlinkit village. Squaws from the latter were sitting
+about the village street weaving baskets. Such beautiful baskets none of
+that party ever had seen before. The boys could hardly resist the
+temptation to buy, but knowing that every pound and every inch of bulk
+in their packs counted, they contented themselves with admiring the
+handicraft of the squaws.
+
+Ponies or horses were seldom seen in the Yakutat street, so those of the
+Pony Rider outfit attracted no little attention. A swarm of Indian
+children gathered about them, chattering half in English and half in
+their native language.
+
+The keeper of the general store came out to greet the outfit, scenting
+some trade, and shook hands with the Professor warmly.
+
+"Anybody'd think the Professor was his long-lost brother," chuckled
+Stacy.
+
+A bevy of dark-eyed squaws surrounded the Professor. In several
+instances papooses were strapped to their backs, the youngsters looking
+as if they did not enjoy it any too well.
+
+"Why do they tie them up in splints?" asked Stacy.
+
+"To keep them from getting broken," answered Rector.
+
+A squaw offered Stacy a pair of beaded moccasins that were gorgeous to
+his eyes.
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Fife dolee."
+
+"Eh? I don't hear very well?"
+
+"Four dolee."
+
+"I'll give you a dollar and fifty cents."
+
+"Two dolee. You take um?"
+
+"You bet I'll take um. It's like finding moccasins to get them for that
+price."
+
+"You will have to carry them yourself, you know," warned Tad.
+
+"What do you think I'm going to do with those joy shoes?" demanded the
+fat boy.
+
+"I supposed you intended to wear them when sitting by the fireside."
+
+"Like the squaw, you've got another guess coming. I'm going to send
+those moccasins to my aunt in Chillicothe."
+
+This was an unusual thing to do. Stacy usually thought of himself, but
+seldom of others. Tad called to the other boys to tell them the news.
+They examined the moccasins gravely.
+
+At this juncture the Professor beckoned to the boys to come into the
+store, which they did after hastily staking down their stock.
+
+"This gentleman says he thinks he can get us a guide," announced the
+Professor. "I tell him we must have a reliable one, for we know
+absolutely nothing about the country from here on."
+
+"Black or white?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"Oh, black, of course. There are no white guides up here. I think this
+one was out with a government surveying party once," said the
+store-keeper.
+
+"He should do very well, then," nodded the Professor, well pleased.
+
+"What's good enough for our Uncle Sam surely should be good enough for
+us," agreed Ned Rector. "What do you say, Chunky?"
+
+"I decline to commit myself. I've been taken in on guides before this.
+Trot out your guide and, after I've tried him out, I'll tell you what I
+think of him. In buying guides I follow the same tactics that Tad Butler
+does in purchasing horses."
+
+"Oh, you do, eh?" jeered Ned.
+
+"Always."
+
+"Then be sure you examine this fellow's legs to make certain that they
+are sound. Feel his ankles that there is neither spavin nor ringbone,
+then open his mouth and look at his teeth to be sure that he isn't lying
+to you," advised Tad dryly.
+
+"After which, one Stacy Brown will be reduced to the condition that he
+deserves," laughed Ned.
+
+"What condition?" demanded the fat boy.
+
+"Use your imagination."
+
+"It isn't working to-day. I'm too hungry."
+
+"Plenty of crackers and cheese and other things here," said Tad. "I am
+going to have some. Isn't that 'pop' up there, sir?" he asked the
+proprietor.
+
+"Yes; have some?"
+
+"What flavors have you?"
+
+"Sarsaparilla and ginger ale."
+
+"Give me both," interjected Stacy. "I'll have a pound of that cheese and
+about a peck of crackers. Got anything else?"
+
+"Ginger snaps?"
+
+"Hooray! Just like being in Chillicothe, isn't it?" Stacy filched a hard
+cracker and slipped it into the mouth of a papoose on its mother's back.
+
+The squaw did not observe the action, but one of her sister squaws
+muttered something, whereat the mother snatched the cracker from the
+mouth of her young hopeful, cast the cracker on the floor and put her
+moccasined foot on it. She launched into a volley in her own language,
+directed at Chunky.
+
+"That's all right, madam. Roast me all you wish. I don't care how much
+you insult me so long as I don't understand a word you are saying."
+
+"Do you wish the cheese done up?" asked the proprietor.
+
+"Done up? Certainly not. I'll attend to the doing up myself." Chunky
+took a large bite, then banged the end of the pop bottle against the
+counter to open the bottle. The stuff was highly charged, and a good
+quantity of it struck Ned Rector in the eye. Stacy waved the bottle at
+arm's length before placing it to his mouth. The charge went over his
+shoulder and soaked the Professor's whiskers before the fat boy
+succeeded in steering the mouth of the bottle safely to his lips.
+
+Professor Zepplin sputtered, Ned Rector threatened, but the fat boy ate
+and drank, regardless of the disturbance he had caused.
+
+"If you open any more of that stuff be good enough to go outdoors to do
+so," advised the Professor.
+
+"I wuz thinking ob doig it in here and shooting a papoose with some
+ginger ale," answered Stacy thickly.
+
+"You will keep on till you have those squaws pulling your hair, Chunky,"
+warned Butler.
+
+The other boys were by this time eating cheese, crackers and ginger
+snaps. The proprietor had sent one of the Indian children to fetch the
+man he had recommended as a guide, and by the time the Pony Rider Boys
+had satisfied their appetites, the guide entered the store and stood
+waiting to be recognized.
+
+The boys laughed when they saw him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GUIDE WHO MADE A HIT
+
+
+The guide might have been anywhere from twenty to forty years of age.
+The boys were unable to say, though they decided that he was quite
+young. He was considerably shorter in stature than the Indians they had
+seen, and Tad wondered if he were not an Eskimo. The guide's head was
+shaven except for a tuft of black coarse hair on the top, standing
+straight up, while a yellow bar of paint had been drawn perpendicularly
+on each cheek. He wore a shirt that had once been white, a pair of
+trousers, one leg of which extended some six inches below the knee, the
+other as far above the knee of the other leg. Over his shoulders drooped
+a blanket of gaudy color. The guide's feet were clad in the mucklucks
+worn both in summer and winter. Taking him all in all, the man was a
+smile-producing combination.
+
+"Are you a guide?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Me guide."
+
+"How old are you?"
+
+"Twenty year."
+
+"I think that is about it," said the store-keeper. "These natives never
+know their age exactly."
+
+"You look to me more like an Eskimo than an Indian," observed Professor
+Zepplin.
+
+"Me Innuit--Siwash. You savvy me?"
+
+Stacy scratched his head.
+
+"Tell him to talk United States," suggested the fat boy.
+
+"What is your name?" asked Tad.
+
+"Anvik. Me smart man, savvy? Me educate Jesuit Mission. Me pilot
+Chilkoot, White Horse, Caribou; me savvy all over."
+
+"Do you know how to cook?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Heap cook all time. Me savvy cook."
+
+"You don't savvy any cooking for me," declared Stacy.
+
+"You will think differently about it when you are hungry. Remember, you
+are full of cheese and crackers now," answered Rector.
+
+"You have been out with the white men surveying, I am told," resumed the
+Professor.
+
+Anvik nodded solemnly.
+
+"Big snow--no trail--big mountains. White men get lost. Anvik find,
+Anvik know trail. Anvik big pilot. Me take um to Ikogimeut when Yukon
+ice get hard so man can go safe with dog team. Big feast, big feed, tell
+heap big stories, big dance. Oh, heap big time. Innuit go, plenty
+Ingalik go. Me got pony, too. Buy um from Ingalik man."
+
+"According to his story he seems to be the big noise up here," muttered
+Ned Rector.
+
+"He has a pony. That is one point in his favor," said Tad.
+
+"Wait till you see it before you call it a pony," advised Stacy.
+
+"Me got gun, too. Me shoot. Bang!"
+
+Stacy staggered back, clapping a hand to his forehead.
+
+"I'm shot!" he cried dramatically.
+
+"Stacy, do restrain yourself until we get out on the trail again,"
+begged the Professor.
+
+"Me make snare. Me catch big game in snare. Me heap big pilot. Me
+Ingalik."
+
+"Have some cheese," urged Chunky, passing a chunk to the now squatting
+Indian.
+
+Without the least change of expression the Indian thrust the chunk into
+his mouth and permitted it to lie there, bulging out the right cheek.
+
+"Do you think this man will do, sir?" asked Professor Zepplin, turning
+to the store-keeper.
+
+"He will have to if you want a guide. He is the only fellow here who has
+ever acted in that capacity, so far as I know."
+
+"We would prefer to have a white man."
+
+The proprietor shook his head.
+
+"White men mostly are up in the gold country, Dawson, Nome, all over."
+
+"Isn't there gold in this part, too?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Yes, there's gold everywhere. You can go down and pan out gold in the
+black sands on the beach here. But what's the use? There is more money
+to be made in other ways in this country, unless you are lucky enough to
+strike it rich before you have spent a fortune locating the claim."
+
+"Where you go?" demanded Anvik.
+
+"North. Northwest from here. We want to get into the wildest of the
+country and we don't want to get lost."
+
+"Me no lose. Mebby me find gold, uh!"
+
+"We are not looking for gold," replied the Professor.
+
+"We are always looking for gold," corrected Stacy. "If you know where
+there is gold you just lead me to it and I'll be your brother for life."
+
+"Me show."
+
+"I take back all I said about this gentleman," announced Chunky. "If the
+half that he says is true, he is worth several times the price he asks."
+
+"How much does he ask?" inquired Rector.
+
+"I don't know," replied the fat boy. "He's cheap at the price, anyway."
+
+"When you mush?" demanded Anvik.
+
+"We don't have mush. We have bacon and beans, and tin biscuit and
+coffee, and plenty of other things, but no mush," answered the
+Professor.
+
+The store-keeper laughed heartily.
+
+"He doesn't mean something to eat. Mush means march or move, a
+corruption of the French-Canadian 'marche.' He means when are you going
+to set out."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the Professor.
+
+"I thought you were an Indian, Professor?" said Tad laughingly. "I guess
+if we depend upon you for interpreter we shall get left."
+
+"Of course I don't understand this jargon."
+
+"Of course you don't," agreed Butler.
+
+"I doubt if any other persons do outside of the locality itself. You see
+this jargon is purely local and--"
+
+"That's what the doctor said about a pain I had once," interjected
+Stacy. "But it hurt just the same."
+
+"Anvik, we would like to start this afternoon, if you are ready,"
+announced the Professor.
+
+The Indian shook his head.
+
+"No mush to-day. Mush to-mollel."
+
+"Why not to-day?"
+
+"Innua him angry to-day."
+
+"Who is Innua?" demanded the Professor, bristling. "We do not care who
+is angry. That has nothing to do with us."
+
+"He means the mountain spirits," explained the store-keeper.
+
+"Eh?" questioned Chunky. "Mountain spirits?"
+
+"He means spirits in the air," explained Butler. "We are not afraid of
+spirits, Anvik."
+
+"Anvik no like."
+
+"How do you know Innua is abroad?" asked the Professor, now curious to
+know more of the native superstitions.
+
+"See um."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"On big mountain," indicating Mt. St. Elias with a sweeping gesture.
+
+"He won't go until to-morrow. If you want him you will have to wait,"
+the store-keeper informed them.
+
+"Then I suppose we shall have to wait," reflected Professor Zepplin. "It
+may be an excellent idea after all. We can pitch camp in the village and
+acquaint our guide with our methods of doing things, Anvik, do you know
+how to put up tents and make camp?"
+
+"Me make Ighloo, fine Ighloo. Snow no get in, cold no get in, Innua no
+get in."
+
+"How about rain?" put in Stacy.
+
+"Rain no get in."
+
+"That's all right, then. We don't care whether the snow gets in or not,
+but we don't want to have to swim out of our Ighloos in the middle of
+the night. One is liable to get wet, you know," reminded Brown.
+
+The Professor arranged the wages with Anvik, calling upon the
+store-keeper to witness the bargain and put it in writing. The Professor
+then directed the boys to take the new guide out and begin his
+instruction in the ways of the Pony Rider Boys. The Professor remained
+to purchase necessary stores and supplies, consulting the proprietor as
+to what would be needed on the journey. The advice of the store-keeper
+was helpful in aiding the Professor to take only such equipment and
+supplies as would be absolutely necessary.
+
+Anvik went to the Indian village to bring his pony, the boys in the
+meantime starting off to pick a camp site.
+
+"One thing, boys, we mustn't play tricks on Anvik," reminded Tad. "I
+have an idea that he hasn't much of a sense of humor. He might lose his
+temper and run away and leave us after we were deep in the interior of
+the country."
+
+"Do you know, I don't believe he is an Indian at all," asserted Ned
+Rector.
+
+"Neither an Indian nor a white man," suggested Stacy wisely.
+
+"I think he is an Esquimo," spoke up Walter.
+
+"What's the odds? We don't care what his race is so long as he answers
+our purpose," declared Butler.
+
+"He says he is an I-Knew-It, and I believe him," said Stacy Brown with
+emphasis.
+
+"An Innuit, you mean," corrected Tad.
+
+"That's it, an I-Knew-It, and that's what I did--"
+
+"There he comes," cried Walter.
+
+The Indian was leading a pony that looked as if it had not felt a brush
+or comb since its birth, but Tad's discerning eye noted that the little
+animal was hardy and well-conditioned, though of evident temper.
+
+"Does he kick?" asked the boy, as Anvik tied his mount to a tree.
+
+"Him kick like buck caribou. Him kick all time, both ways."
+
+"We'll hopple him if he does," said Tad. "Be sure that you tie him so he
+doesn't kick our ponies, Anvik. We can't have anything of that sort. If
+he persists in kicking I'll see if I can't break him of it."
+
+"You horse shaman?" asked Anvik.
+
+"Yes, he's ashamed of his horse, that's it," chuckled Stacy.
+
+Tad's face wore a puzzled look, which a few seconds later gave place to
+a smile of understanding.
+
+"Oh! you mean, am I a horse doctor? Is that it?"
+
+"Uh."
+
+"That's what he is. Anvik has got you properly located this time. Ha,
+ha!" laughed Chunky.
+
+"Come, boys, unpack. We must give our guide his first lesson. You sit
+down and watch us, Anvik, while we make camp."
+
+The guide did so, grunting with approval or disapproval from time to
+time as the work pleased or displeased him. Under the now skillful hands
+of the Pony Rider Boys the camp rapidly assumed shape and form. All the
+tents were erected on this occasion in order that the guide might
+observe the whole process. The tents up, the boys settled them. There
+were plenty of trees about from which to get boughs for their beds, and
+wood was brought and a campfire built up. This especially interested the
+guide. He uttered grunts and nods of approval as he watched Tad build
+the fire in true woodsman-like manner.
+
+"White man no make fire like Indian. You make fire like Indian."
+
+"Thank you," smiled Butler.
+
+"You make cook fire. How you make sleep fire?"
+
+"A little fire close up to the tent," answered Butler. "I make it so as
+to get all the heat into the tent instead of sending the heat up into
+the air where it will do no good."
+
+"Heap good. You good Indian."
+
+"That's what he is, Anvil, he's an Indian," cried Stacy.
+
+"I seem to be a good many things in this camp," laughed Tad. "Any
+further compliments you can pay me, Stacy?"
+
+"No, but if you don't chase that buck over yonder behind the Professor's
+tent, I reckon you'll lose your rope," reminded the fat boy.
+
+Tad sprang to his feet, leaping over the tent ropes to the rear. A
+native had reached under and was hauling out Butler's lasso. Tad grabbed
+the fellow by an arm and sent him spinning.
+
+"You get out of here or I'll wallop you!" threatened the freckle-faced
+boy. "Don't you try that! It doesn't go in this outfit. Anvik, tell your
+friend that someone will get knocked in the head if he steals anything
+in this camp."
+
+The guide uttered a volley of protest in Innuit, which the assembled
+squaws, papooses and bucks received in stoical silence, and with
+impassive faces.
+
+"They don't seem to be particularly impressed by your lecture," said
+Ned.
+
+"Him no take. Anvik tell um stick um with knife if take."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort. We will do all the punishing. Don't
+let me see you using your knife to stick anyone. Now, I guess you had
+better show us around. Take your pony and come along," rebuked Rector.
+
+"Where you want go?"
+
+"Oh, anywhere. You lead the way. Will anything here be taken while we
+are away?" questioned Ned.
+
+"No take. Anvik stick um if take."
+
+"You're a savage, that's what you are," declared Chunky.
+
+The boys got on their ponies, while Anvik, after letting his blanket
+slip to his waist, started away at a stride that the ponies had to trot
+to keep up with.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN THE HEART OF NATURE
+
+
+That night the Indian slept rolled in his blanket with feet close to the
+campfire in true Indian style. He neither moved nor made a sound all
+night long so far as the boys knew, but just as the dawn, was graying
+the skies between the great white glaciers, he was up and striding, away
+on some pilgrimage of his own. He did not return until two hours later.
+When the boys awoke Anvik was sitting before the fire with both hands
+clasped about his bunched knees.
+
+"Good morning," greeted Tad, who was the first to emerge from the tents.
+
+"Huh!" answered the guide.
+
+"Is the mountain spirit willing that we should make a start this
+morning?"
+
+"Him gone," answered the Indian.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Not know. Mebby Yukon, mebby Caribou," with a wave of his hand that
+encompassed all the territory to the north of them. "You mush bymeby?"
+
+"Very soon. We will have breakfast now, then we will get under way."
+
+Anvik nodded and grunted, then, straightening up, let fall his blanket
+and began preparing the things for breakfast. One by one the Pony Rider
+Boys appeared, stretching themselves and yawning. A wash in an icy
+spring close at hand awakened them instantly. Stacy was the last to
+emerge from his tent. He sniffed the air, then turned up his nose.
+
+"Bacon!" he grumbled disgustedly.
+
+"Don't you like it?" asked Tad.
+
+"I was thinking last night that if I keep on eating bacon for many
+months more I'll be growing a pork rind in my stomach."
+
+"You don't have to eat the bacon unless you want to, Chunky."
+
+"Yes, I do. It's either that or starve, and Stacy Brown never will
+starve so long as there is anything to eat in the shop. Where's the bath
+room? I want to wash."
+
+"Over yonder, and don't you wash where we get our breakfast water if you
+know what's good for you."
+
+"All water looks alike to me," answered the fat boy, walking rather
+unsteadily toward the spring, rubbing his eyes.
+
+Breakfast that morning was rather a hurried affair, for there was much
+to be done. The supplies had been brought up from the store the night
+before so there was no need to wait for the place to open, and Anvik
+proved to be quite handy in striking camp, needing few instructions. He
+remembered well all that had been told him the previous day.
+
+They got away early. As before, the guide disdained to ride his pony. He
+trotted along ahead, leading the little animal until some five miles
+beyond the village when he leaped to the pony's back, and with a shrill
+"Yip, yip!" sent it galloping ahead. This made the boys laugh. They did
+not laugh for long, however. A mile beyond this they swerved from the
+trail that led up parallel with the border between the United States and
+the Canadian possessions and struck straight into the wilds.
+
+"Say, where's the trail?" demanded the perspiring Stacy when the going
+became so rough that the greater part of the time they were obliged to
+walk, leaving their ponies to get along as best they might.
+
+"There is no trail. This is the trackless wilderness," replied Butler.
+"There is time to go back if you wish to."
+
+"No, I don't want to go back."
+
+Ere that day was ended Chunky almost wished he _had_ gone back
+while he had the opportunity. Time and time again they were obliged to
+haul their ponies up the steep sides of rocks by main force.
+Fortunately, the little animals, used to mountain climbing, were
+unaffected by dizzy heights or dangerous crossings, and picked their way
+almost daintily. The boys were perspiring and red of face, but happy.
+They thoroughly enjoyed this wild traveling. It went beyond anything
+they had ever experienced.
+
+"I hope you are satisfied," panted the Professor when at noon they
+stopped on a little plateau from which gulches fell away on all sides,
+leaving them, as it were, on a magic island high in the air. "I
+sincerely hope it is wild enough for you young gentlemen."
+
+"Not any too much so, Professor," answered Tad. "I could stand it a lot
+wilder."
+
+"At the present rate you will have it that way."
+
+They built a fire and cooked a light meal, after which all hands lay
+down for an hour, with the exception of Anvik, who sat bunched in his
+now familiar brooding position, gazing off into space. As he sat thus,
+his far-seeing eyes discovered something, but he did not change
+countenance. He simply sat in dreamy-eyed silence. Perhaps what he saw
+did not interest him. A column of white smoke had attracted his
+attention. Promptly on the expiration of the hour that the boys had
+given themselves to sleep, Anvik stepped briskly to them, shaking each
+one by the shoulder.
+
+"Mush!" he grunted with each shake.
+
+"I wish you wouldn't say that," grumbled Stacy. "It makes me think I'm
+going to have breakfast."
+
+"Heap big mush. Big snow, big mountain," grunted the Innuit, with a
+sweeping gesture towards the towering peaks of the St. Elias range which
+they were now entering.
+
+"Have we got to go through that?" begged Walter anxiously.
+
+"Um," replied the guide.
+
+"But how shall we ever make it?"
+
+"Mush."
+
+"Yes, mush," jeered Chunky. "You just spread the mush over the mountain
+side and slide. Don't you understand, Walt? My, but you are thick."
+
+All that afternoon they fought their way through the rugged mountains,
+making camp that night in a gloomy pass at the foot of Vancouver
+Mountain, a vast pile that towered nearly fourteen thousand feet high.
+It seemed to the Pony Rider Boys that they were a long way from
+civilization, and Tad admitted that he would soon be lost were he
+obliged to follow a trail up there.
+
+The camp was made about six o'clock, still with broad daylight, but the
+boys considered that they had done enough for one day. The ponies were
+weary and Tad knew better than to press them too hard. After supper the
+freckle-faced boy shouldered his rifle.
+
+Anvik gave him a glance of inquiry.
+
+"Where are you going?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"I'm going to 'mush' a little way up the pass to see if I can't get
+something worth while for our breakfast."
+
+"You will get lost."
+
+"No, that will not be possible. So long as I keep in the pass I shall be
+all right. Don't worry; I'll keep in the pass all right."
+
+The boy plunged into the thick undergrowth, and no sooner had he done so
+than the giant mosquitoes and black gnats attacked him in force. Tad
+fought them until he grew tired of it, then he trudged on grimly,
+permitting them to do their worst. After a time he decided that he would
+get no game if he remained down in the pass, so, after carefully taking
+his bearings, Tad climbed the mountain until he was able to look over
+the tops of the trees. It was like a level green sea. He sat down in the
+sunlight, gazing out over the wonderful landscape.
+
+"A world of silence," he murmured. "If Chunky were here he would say I
+was getting softening of the brain. Hello!" Tad froze himself. There was
+scarcely a perceptible flicker of the eyelids as his gaze became fixed
+on a point of rock just across the pass. There, poised with one foot in
+the air, stood an antelope. It was a young doe, as Tad surmised it to
+be. His position was not a favorable one for shooting because he was in
+plain sight, and the least move on his part no doubt would be discovered
+by the antelope.
+
+"She must have scented me or else she has got a whiff from the camp. If
+I don't make any false moves she will be over in that camp within the
+next hour."
+
+Tad raised his rifle slowly. Yet slow and cautious as he was, the
+antelope's head went up sharply. So did Butler's rifle. He took quick
+aim and pulled the trigger. The report of his shot went crashing from
+wall to wall, like a series of heavy shots.
+
+[Illustration: He Raised His Rifle Slowly.]
+
+The freckle-faced boy leaped to his feet, and to one side, with rifle
+ready for another shot in case he had missed. But he had not. The
+antelope had leaped into the air, turned a complete somersault, and went
+crashing down into the gulch out of sight.
+
+"Hooray! Maybe it was a chance shot, but it was a dandy just the same.
+Now I wonder if I am going to be able to find her. I think I know how."
+
+The boy took out his compass and got a bearing on the point where he had
+last seen the antelope. Noting the course he started down the mountain
+side, sliding and leaping in his haste. Crossing over the pass was more
+difficult, for a broad glacial stream was rushing through the center of
+it. Nothing daunted, Tad plunged in, but was swept off his feet almost
+instantly and carried several rods down before he was able to check
+himself by grabbing a rock.
+
+The rifle had been held out of the water most of the way, though it got
+a pretty good wetting. The water was less swift from the rock on, and
+Tad essayed another crossing. He fell only once on the way over. This
+time he went in all over, rifle and all, but he got up grinning.
+
+"It doesn't matter much now. I can't be any wetter, and I guess the gun
+isn't any the worse off, though I shall have to give it a pretty
+thorough cleaning and oiling when I get back to camp."
+
+Having been thrown considerably off his course, Butler found some
+difficulty in picking it up again, but he found it at last, then guided
+by the compass made his way straight to where the antelope lay amid a
+thick mass of undergrowth. He examined her and found that the bullet had
+entered just behind the left shoulder.
+
+"I couldn't have done any better than that at fifty yards," chuckled the
+boy. "The next question is, how am I going to get her to camp? I reckon
+I shall have to tote her."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A PONY RIDER BOY'S PLUCK
+
+
+"White boy him make shoot," grunted Anvik.
+
+"He has shot?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Ugh."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Hear um."
+
+"You must have pretty good ears. I haven't heard anything," replied the
+fat boy. "How do you know it wasn't someone else?"
+
+"Know um gun."
+
+"It is queer we didn't hear him," said the Professor. "Do you think he
+got some game?"
+
+The guide nodded.
+
+"We shall see how good a fortune-teller you are, but the joke will be on
+you if it should prove not to have been Butler at all."
+
+To this the guide made no reply. In the meantime, Tad Butler was having
+his troubles. The problem of how to get the antelope back to camp was
+not so easily solved. But Tad thought he knew a way. First he got a
+stick, which he sharpened at both ends. The stick, about six feet long,
+he thrust through slits he had made in the hocks of the animal, somewhat
+similar to what he would have done had he been going to string the
+carcass up.
+
+First strapping his rifle over his shoulder, the Pony Rider Boy raised
+the stick to his shoulders also, and, stooping, lifted the animal. It
+was a heavy burden and he staggered. The head of the antelope was
+dragging on the ground, which made Butler's labor still more trying.
+
+The lad started away, keeping close to the stream in his search of a
+fording place, but he failed to find anything that looked easier than
+the portage he had used before, so he finally decided to go back to
+that. By the time he reached the former point he was obliged to drop his
+burden and sink down on the rocks to rest.
+
+"Whew, but it's hot. And the mosquitoes and the gnats! If it isn't one
+pest in the wilds, it is sure to be another and a worse one," he
+concluded somewhat illogically, measuring the width of the stream with
+his eyes. "I'll try it."
+
+The weight of his burden was a help rather than otherwise in crossing
+the glacial stream, for the weight kept the boy on his feet, except on
+one occasion when stepping on a flat, slippery rock, they were whipped
+out from under him. Tad went in all over, with the antelope on top of
+him, and there he struggled and splashed, losing his foothold almost as
+fast as he gained it.
+
+"Well, I am a muffer," gasped Tad, finally getting to his feet. "I'm
+worse than Chunky. I deserve a worse wetting, but I guess that's
+impossible."
+
+The journey to the other side was made without further mishap. Then
+began a hard, grilling tramp down through the pass, the ends of the pole
+on which the animal was suspended continually catching on limbs and
+brush, frequently throwing Butler down, tearing his clothes and
+scratching his face and neck. His dogged determination carried him
+through, however, but he was in the end considerably the worse for wear.
+The first his companions saw of him was when Tad fell out into the open
+in plain sight of the camp, flat on his face, with the carcass on top of
+him. At first glance they thought it was a live animal they had seen.
+
+"Get a gun, quick!" bellowed Stacy.
+
+"Him white boy," answered the Indian. "Him git um."
+
+"What, Tad?" Ned uttered a yell and started on a trot for his companion
+who, by this time, was getting up slowly and with evident effort. Stacy
+and Walter followed. "What have you got there? We came near letting go
+at you."
+
+"Yes, yes, we thought you were a bear," chuckled Stacy.
+
+"It's a deer," cried Walter Perkins.
+
+"Him antelope," nodded the Indian wisely. "White boy heap much big
+hunter."
+
+"I'm afraid I am a better hunter than I am a toter. Stacy, I fell in."
+
+"Ye-e-e-ow!" yelled the fat boy joyously.
+
+"Here, let us take him in," offered Ned, reaching for one end of the
+carrying stick.
+
+Butler shook his head.
+
+"I said I was going to get him to camp alone and I shall."
+
+"But--" protested Ned.
+
+"Oh, let him carry the beast if he wants to. Tad likes to work," laughed
+the fat boy.
+
+"Which is a heap sight more than may be said of some persons we know
+of," returned Ned.
+
+Tad dragged the carcass into camp, casting it down a short distance from
+the tents.
+
+"Him heap big little man," reiterated the Indian.
+
+"How much does the animal weigh?" asked the Professor.
+
+"A good ton, I should say," replied Tad, sinking down by the fire. "I'm
+all tuckered out."
+
+"You had better get on some dry clothes."
+
+"These will dry in a few minutes by the fire," was the philosophical
+reply.
+
+"Yes, that's right," bubbled Stacy. "When one side gets dry I'll pry you
+over with the stick on which you brought in the carcass. You can't say I
+don't do my share of the work in this outfit."
+
+"I think I prefer to do my own rolling. I don't dare trust you," laughed
+Tad.
+
+"That's it, you see. When I try to do anything you won't let me."
+
+"Perhaps Anvik will show you how to skin and cut up the antelope."
+
+"I don't want to know how to skin an antelope. We don't have that kind
+at home, so what's the use knowing about it? I know how to 'skin the
+cat,' and that's enough," Chunky declared.
+
+Anvik deftly strung up the carcass and in half an hour had it neatly
+dressed, the boys watching the operation with interest.
+
+"Heap much good meat," he nodded.
+
+"Yes, heap," admitted Stacy solemnly. "What are you going to do with it
+all?"
+
+"Eat um."
+
+"All of it?"
+
+"Some of um. Mebby wolf eat um rest. Mebby bear eat um."
+
+"Mebby they don't. Mebby Stacy Brown will eat um if there is any left
+when my hungry friends get through with it to-morrow," jeered the fat
+boy. "I'll have mine rare, if you please."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Anvik with the suspicion of a grin on his usually stolid
+countenance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+STACY BUMPS THE BUMPS
+
+
+One by one the travelers were hauling the ponies up a steep mountain,
+over which their course lay, four days after Tad had brought in the
+antelope. They had eaten their fill of the meat, hiding the rest in case
+they should by any chance come that way again.
+
+The going had been worse than before. It could not have been tougher for
+either man or beast. The mountain side up which they were struggling was
+rough and rugged. A short distance to the right of them the quartz rock
+was as smooth as polished marble save for a hummock here and there, some
+of the latter smooth, others rough. Neither Pony Rider Boy nor pony
+could have held his footing there for an instant.
+
+After two hours' toil they got the last of the stock up, which in this
+case was the pack mule. Ned pulled on the rope while Tad and Anvik
+pushed. They were safe in doing so, for the mule could not kick without
+going down altogether. Furthermore, it was as anxious as its helpers to
+get to the top and have the disagreeable job over with. The result was
+that all hands were pretty well fagged out by the time they got to a
+level space from which their way led around the base of the higher
+mountain.
+
+"Now, Stacy, you haven't done much except to give us the benefit of your
+advice, so take the mule over yonder and tether him where he can
+browse," directed Butler. "Walter, did you tether the others?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Come on, you lazy mule. I'm not going to tote you. You'll tote yourself
+if you want a feed," growled Stacy, taking hold of the lead rope and
+slouching off to the right. The bushes where they had placed the ponies
+were about ten rods to the northward of the point at which the party had
+landed. Stacy was apparently trying to see how near he could walk to the
+edge without himself or the mule slipping down that glassy side of
+granite-like rocks.
+
+"Come along, you lazy cayuse," he yelled, giving the lead line a series
+of tugs. It was like pulling on a dead weight, the pack mule being too
+weary to hasten its lagging footsteps. Chunky turned around and taking
+firm grip on the rope with both hands began to pull with all his might.
+The mule braced himself. He resented this sort of treatment.
+
+The halter suddenly slipped over the animal's head, and the pack mule
+sat down heavily. So did the fat boy. Unfortunately for the mule it sat
+down with its haunches slightly over the edge of the slope, and down it
+went over the slippery surface.
+
+"There goes the other mule!" yelled Walter Perkins.
+
+"Fat boy him go, too," grunted Anvik.
+
+They had failed to observe Stacy. What they were most interested in was
+the sight of their pack mule sliding down the slope backwards in a
+sitting posture. Alarmed as they were to see their stores disappearing,
+the ludicrousness of the sight interested them. The mule came in contact
+with one of the high places--a rocky bump, which bounced him up into the
+air and turned him completely around. Down to the next obstruction the
+animal traveled, principally on its nose.
+
+Stacy Brown was only a few seconds behind the mule. The two had sat down
+facing each other. The mule being the heavier had gone first and, when
+once under way, his momentum carried him along with greater force and
+speed.
+
+With a wild yell, the fat boy, sprawling and struggling to catch hold of
+something to stop his progress, began the descent. Below him he could
+hear the rattle of tin cans, for the pack had broken open. It was
+raining canned goods down there, but Stacy was not particularly
+interested in this phase of the situation. He hit the bump over which
+the pack mule had leaped, was hurled up into the air, where he did a
+dizzy spin, then sat down with a force that for the instant knocked all
+the breath out of him, and once more he shot towards the bottom.
+
+"They'll both be killed!" cried the Professor in great alarm.
+
+Tad, comprehending the scene in a twinkling, started on a run. Choosing
+a point where there were no bumps in the way, he crept over and, sitting
+on his feet, supported on each side by his hands, began a downward
+shoot. But the freckle-faced boy did not long maintain that position. A
+few seconds after starting he was flat on his back, going down feet
+first at a speed that fairly took his breath away.
+
+Ere he was half-way down, the mule had reached the end of its journey at
+the bottom of the slope. Then Stacy Brown came along, but not much more
+gracefully than the mule, and landed feet first on the animal. What the
+slide and the bumps had failed to do for the unfortunate beast, Stacy
+Brown did. He was a human projectile and the mule, that had got to its
+fore feet, promptly lay down again under the impact. Chunky did a
+graceful dive over the body of his prostrate enemy, landing on his
+shoulders in a thicket.
+
+"Stacy! Stacy!" yelled Tad as he reached the end of his own slide and
+got to his feet. Tad had not been in the least injured by the fall.
+"Stacy!"
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Are you hurt?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then come and help me get the mule up."
+
+"I can't."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I'm strung up."
+
+Tad did not know what the trouble was, but he lost no time in getting to
+his companion. Butler gazed, then he burst out laughing. Chunky lay on
+his back on the ground, his eyes rolling. One foot was elevated as high
+as it could reach and still permit the boy's body to remain on the
+ground. The foot was caught in the crotch of a dwarfed tree, and was
+wedged in tightly, too.
+
+"Gracious! How did you ever manage to get into that scrape?" questioned
+Tad between laughs. "Hey, Ned, is that you?" as a crashing in the bushes
+was heard near at hand.
+
+"Yes. I'm coming. Is Stacy hurt?"
+
+"No, but come here quick. Here's a sight for you!"
+
+Ned threshed his way to them, then he, too, burst out into a roar of
+laughter.
+
+"Ha, ha!" mocked Chunky. "That's right. Never mind me. I'm only the fat
+boy, taken along to do stunts to make the rest of you laugh. I'm quite
+comfortable, thank you. I can stand on my head here for any old length
+of time. Have your laugh out, then shoot me! I don't want to die a
+lingering death."
+
+"I'll lift him up. You get the foot out, Ned," directed Tad.
+
+This was not so easily accomplished. Butler tried different ways of
+doing this, but each time the fat boy's yells made him stop short. Every
+attempt to lift Stacy gave his foot a wrench, bringing forth a howl.
+
+"Let me have your hatchet," demanded Tad. Ned passed it over.
+
+"What are you going to do? Going to chop my leg off?" demanded Stacy.
+
+"Don't worry. It won't hurt but a moment."
+
+"Pro-o-o-o-fessor!"
+
+"Keep still, you ninny! We aren't going to hurt you," growled Ned.
+
+Tad was already hacking at the tree, which was small, but very tough.
+Every blow brought a yell from the fat boy. He couldn't have made much
+more racket had his companions in reality been amputating the leg
+itself.
+
+At last Butler had chopped through. He grabbed the tree, but Stacy,
+jerking on his foot, pulled the tree right over on him, incidentally
+throwing Tad down. Then Chunky let out a fresh series of howls as the
+sharp sprouts smote him on the face and body. The foot, however, had
+come free with the falling of the tree, but the boy still lay there
+groaning, making no effort to help himself.
+
+"Get up! You're all right," commanded Ned, jerking Stacy out by the
+collar. "See what you've accomplished now. You have done for our last
+mule. Had you not been along I don't believe the other one would have
+fallen off the trail."
+
+"That's right. Save the donk, but never mind a Stacy Brown. He's a good
+joke, that's all," complained Stacy.
+
+Tad had run to the pack mule which had got up, and was standing with
+nose close to the ground.
+
+"He isn't hurt," cried Tad. "He is all right, Professor," he called.
+"Both mules are all right. Hooray!"
+
+"Eh?" growled Stacy, flushing hotly.
+
+Anvik, who had been making his way down by a more roundabout way, now
+made his appearance. He grunted upon discovering the disheveled Chunky,
+and shrugged his shoulders as he observed the display of tin cans strewn
+about.
+
+"Much heap big fool!" ejaculated the Indian.
+
+"Are you addressing your remarks to me or to the mule?" demanded Stacy
+calmly.
+
+"Huh!" That was the only reply Stacy got, and Anvik began gathering up
+the stuff that had been lost from the battered pack. This was no small
+task, owing to the way the provisions had been scattered. Butler, in the
+meantime, had gone over the pack mule carefully to see if there were any
+serious injuries.
+
+"He's a lucky mule," announced the lad. "There are no bones broken, but
+I'll warrant he aches all over from the shaking up he has had. I shall
+have to sew up that gash on his side when we get him up."
+
+"Let's get started and boost him up, then," urged Rector.
+
+"No, let the beggar rest. I haven't the heart to drag him up that
+mountain again until he recovers from the shock. We'll tether him and
+help Anvik get the provisions up first. Stacy, are you able to work?"
+
+"What you want me to do?"
+
+"Carry some of these stores up."
+
+The fat boy shook his head.
+
+"My weak heart won't stand it," he answered. Thrusting his hands in his
+pockets he strolled off.
+
+The two boys looked at each other and Tad shook his head hopelessly. Ned
+picked up a stone and savagely shied it at a tomato can. It hit the can
+and split it wide open.
+
+"If you must give vent to your emotions I wish you would throw stones at
+a tree, or at something that won't deplete our stores," suggested
+Butler. "Now see what you've done."
+
+Stacy had promptly rescued the split tomato can and carefully holding it
+before him stepped gingerly over to a rock on which he sat down and
+began eating of the contents of the can.
+
+"I don't want to see. Stacy riles me so that I want to thrash him. I'll
+do it some day, too!" threatened Ned.
+
+Stacy paid no attention to Rector's threats, but having finally emptied
+the can, he threw it at Ned, then began climbing the mountain to rejoin
+the outfit.
+
+It was all of two hours ere they finished their work of bringing the
+damaged supplies up the mountain side. Then came a tug of war in getting
+the mule up once more, the brute hanging back, the boys pulling and
+pushing. The Professor had a new pack cover all cut and sewed by the
+time they had finished. The boys decided to camp where they were for an
+hour longer, then go on, making a late camp that afternoon, the days
+being so long that this could be done without night traveling, which was
+very perilous in that rugged section.
+
+They finally took up their journey, making camp on a high plateau where
+Tad was destined to make an important discovery before they set out on
+the following day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE STORY IN THE DEAD FIRE
+
+
+It was an hour past daylight on the following morning when Tad, who had
+got up early, shouldered his rifle and stalked out of camp, returned.
+The other boys were just out of their beds, heading for a spring to
+"wash their eyes open."
+
+Tad did not show himself to them at once. There was no real reason for
+his caution, save that he was a woodsman and therefore always cautious
+as to the moves he made. Anvik caught sight of him instantly, and Tad
+beckoned. The guide did not appear to have observed the signal, but
+taking up his hatchet as if going out for wood, he strode from the camp
+also, and Butler seeing that the guide was coming, turned and walked
+briskly away from the camp.
+
+The freckle-faced boy led for a short quarter of a mile straight over
+the plateau, a thickly wooded, rugged plain. Then he halted, waiting for
+the guide to come up. Tad pointed to a heap of ashes, the remains of a
+campfire.
+
+"Huh!" grunted the Indian.
+
+"Someone has been here before us," nodded Tad. "And not so very long
+ago, I should say. What do you make of it, Anvik?"
+
+"You see um?"
+
+Butler nodded.
+
+"What you see?"
+
+"A dead campfire."
+
+"Huh. Heap much. What else you see?"
+
+"I see a few things, Anvik. Of course I can't see as much as you do, but
+I should say this camp was not more than a day old. This fire was
+blazing yesterday. The ashes aren't the right color for a very old one."
+
+"One sun," grunted the Indian.
+
+"It looks to me as if there had been two men here. Am I right?"
+
+"Heap good. Two men. Leave, big hurry. Him go that way. Stay here two
+hour. Wonder why big hurry?"
+
+"Perhaps they wanted to get somewhere, some place for which they had set
+out in a hurry. They had two ponies and pretty heavy packs."
+
+Anvik nodded.
+
+"White boy much wise. Him see almost like Indian. My father him shaman.
+Him teach Anvik see many thing. White boy him see almost as much as
+Anvik."
+
+"Where do you think they are going?"
+
+"Not know."
+
+"Perhaps they are miners prospecting for a claim."
+
+Anvik shook his head.
+
+"Too much big hurry. No prospect. Mebby go get claim. Mebby see um
+again."
+
+"I hope we do. It would be pleasant to have some company in this wild
+place. They went in that direction when they broke camp. Is that the way
+we go?" asked Tad.
+
+"We follow um trail."
+
+"Then let's go back and get ready to move."
+
+The pair strode back without another word, the Indian's admiration for
+the freckle-faced boy having increased greatly since Tad had beckoned
+him from the camp.
+
+Shortly after noon as they were casting about for a favorable place in
+which to make their mid-day halt, Ned Rector, who was riding to the
+right of the others, uttered a shout.
+
+"What is it?" cried Tad.
+
+"There has been a campfire here."
+
+"How did you find it?" wondered Tad.
+
+"My pony walked through it and kicked up the ashes. Who do you suppose
+it could have been?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know. See anything about the remains of the fire that
+tells you anything?"
+
+"No. What is there to see, Tad?"
+
+"It takes a woodsman to see things," declared Stacy Brown, getting from
+his saddle and gravely strolling to the heap of ashes, into which he
+thrust one hand.
+
+"Well?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Ashes warm. Haven't been away from here very long."
+
+"Great!" cried the boys.
+
+"You are a wonder," nodded Butler approvingly. "But you all missed the
+other one."
+
+"The other what?" demanded Ned.
+
+"The other campfire. There was another right near where we camped last
+night. In that case the ashes were cold. The travelers haven't made as
+much progress to-day as I should have thought they would, and it looks
+to me as though they thought they were moving rather too rapidly and had
+slowed down a little. What do you say, Anvik?"
+
+"Huh!" grunted the Indian, which Tad interpreted as meaning that he was
+right.
+
+The Professor was much interested in the discovery, and asked Tad and
+Anvik many questions about the earlier discovery. Still, there was not
+much to be learned. A stranger in this wild place was something to
+attract the attention and cause speculation and discussion, so during
+the rest hour they talked of little else. Tad thought they would come up
+with the two strangers, but the guide shook his head.
+
+"Him go north. Anvik go northwest. No see."
+
+"We shall see by to-morrow. I have an idea that we are going to catch up
+with our friends before we get across the mountains," averred Tad
+confidently.
+
+"Lunch is ready," announced the Professor.
+
+"And speaking of food, I'm a little hungry myself," said Tad with a
+laugh. "I really am glad there is no one in our outfit with a delicate
+appetite. Walt, do you remember what a dainty picker you were when we
+first went out together?"
+
+"Yes. I have changed since then, haven't I?"
+
+"I should say you have. From a delicate little chap you've gotten to be
+a regular whopper."
+
+"Yes, I reckon we've all grown some," agreed Chunky. "But if this kind
+of going continues we'll all shrink away to nothing."
+
+"You will be able to lift a house after you have finished this journey,"
+laughed Tad.
+
+"I don't want to lift a house. I've got all I can do to lift myself."
+
+Soon after, the party started on, to meet with a surprise ere they had
+gone far on their journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A SIGN FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+
+
+The surprise did not come until just before night closed in, shortly
+after ten o'clock that night.
+
+A hard, grilling day had been spent on the trail, with little relief
+from their labors, which were divided between hauling the ponies up
+dangerous slopes, down almost sheer walls, across glacial streams cold
+as ice, and last but not least the fighting of giant mosquitoes and
+black gnats.
+
+"There is only one thing lacking to make this country the limit,"
+declared Stacy after they had made camp and settled down to warm
+themselves while the guide was getting supper.
+
+"And what might that be?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Snakes!"
+
+"Thank goodness there aren't any such things here," exclaimed Rector.
+"It is bad enough as it is. Hark! What's that?"
+
+"Him wolf," grunted the Indian.
+
+"I should say there were several of 'him,'" laughed Tad Butler. "They
+seemed to be stirred up about something. Are they timber wolves, Anvik?"
+
+The guide nodded and grunted.
+
+"Are you afraid of wolves?" demanded Rector.
+
+"No 'fraid wolves. Mebby 'fraid Ingalik."
+
+Tad drew from this that the Indian had something in mind that he had not
+spoken to them about. The freckle-faced boy eyed the Indian keenly, but
+Anvik's impassive face told him nothing. The guide had discovered
+something else. Tad was sure of that, but what that something was the
+boy had not the slightest idea.
+
+Tad's gaze roved about over the landscape, traveling slowly from
+mountain to mountain, from peak to peak. Twice he went over the rugged
+landscape spread out before them with his searching glances. Suddenly
+his gaze halted and fixed on the peak of a low mountain off to the
+northwest of them. Butler shaded his eyes, and Anvik, observing the
+action, followed the direction of the boy's gaze.
+
+The guide made no move, nor did he change expression, but Tad saw that
+Anvik saw. A tiny ring of smoke was rising slowly from the low mountain
+peak, swaying lazily as it rose in the quiet air. It was almost white.
+One might have taken it for a cloud did he not know better, and only a
+mountaineer would have known better.
+
+A moment and a second ring ascended in the wake of the first one, then
+after another interval a third ring rose.
+
+"What are you looking at?" demanded the Professor sharply.
+
+"Smoke," answered Tad.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"On that low peak. Where are the glasses?"
+
+Ned hurriedly fetched the glasses. He took the first look, but saw no
+smoke. Tad reached for them. By this time another ring was rising. It,
+like the first one he had seen, was followed by two others.
+
+"It's a signal!" announced Butler quietly. "Now what can it mean?"
+
+"It means trouble for us," spoke up Stacy. "I can feel it in my bones."
+
+"Who would desire to make trouble for us here?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"I don't know," replied Tad. "I don't believe that smoke has anything to
+do with us. It must be an Indian signal."
+
+"No Indian," grunted Anvik. "Him white man smoke."
+
+"How do you know?" questioned the Professor sharply.
+
+"Me know."
+
+"Then perhaps you may be able to tell us whose smoke it is?"
+
+"Him white man. Mebby same man, mebby not. White man all same. Him call
+other white man. Him say some along, by jink."
+
+"Let's make a smoke and answer him," suggested Ned eagerly. "That would
+be a joke on him, whoever he is."
+
+Tad said "no," and said it emphatically.
+
+"No make smoke," agreed the Indian. "Smoke want white man off
+yonder"--pointing to the southwest.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked Butler.
+
+"Smoke him go that way. Want us, smoke him go this way."
+
+"I never knew that before," reflected Tad. "You see, boys, they make
+these signal smokes by building a smudge, then holding a blanket over
+the smudge. By removing the blanket and replacing it they can make a
+definite number of smokes, long smokes or short smokes; in fact, they
+can almost make words, like the telegraph. It is a wonderful thing. I
+wouldn't be surprised if those signals could be made out twenty or
+thirty miles away, if one had eyes sharp enough to detect them."
+
+"But what are they signaling for?" demanded Stacy.
+
+"I don't know. Anvik says it is white men. I can't tell you anything
+about that. Smoke is just smoke to me. They are communicating with
+someone. We shan't see them, as they must be all of ten miles away."
+
+"Fifteen," corrected the guide.
+
+"That shows how poorly a novice judges distances in this country,"
+nodded Butler. "They may see our fire to-night. If they are friendly we
+shall no doubt meet them. If they are not, we may never see a sign of
+them again. That is the way I reason it out."
+
+Anvik grunted and nodded. The Indian understood a great deal more of
+what was being said than one would have supposed. In fact, to look at
+him one would not think he had even heard anything of what was being
+said about him. He was the silent, impassive-faced stoic of his race.
+
+After darkness had set in the boys scanned the mountains for the light
+of a campfire, but there was no light to be seen. The Pony Rider Boys'
+campfire, however, was blazing up brightly, they having built up a large
+fire on purpose to attract the attention of the men who had made the
+smoke signals from the low mountain peak, low in comparison with the ten
+and fifteen thousand feet ranges about them. The boys turned in at
+midnight, a late hour for them, and were sound asleep within two minutes
+thereafter. They were aroused an hour later by the most terrifying roar
+they had ever listened to.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Tad, springing from his tent, trying to
+pierce the darkness with his gaze.
+
+"Is--is the world coming to an end?" yelled Ned.
+
+"I guess the mountain is falling down," shouted Stacy.
+
+"Guide, guide!" roared the Professor.
+
+Anvik, drawing his blanket still more closely about him, stepped over
+and threw some fresh sticks on the fire. The roaring by this time had
+become a thunderous, crashing noise that fairly deafened them. One had
+to shout to make himself heard. Fine particles, like sharp stones, began
+raining down upon them, stinging the faces, causing the boys to shield
+their eyes with their arms. Stacy, in alarm, ran and hid in the tent;
+the others stood their ground, yet not knowing what second they might be
+caught in what seemed to them to be a great upheaval of nature.
+
+"It's an earthquake," shouted Ned Rector.
+
+Stacy heard the words in a brief lull. The fat boy burst from his tent
+yelling like a wild Indian.
+
+"An earthquake! Oh, wow, wow, wow! We'll all be shot to pieces. Oh,
+help!"
+
+Tad grabbed the boy by a shoulder, giving him a good shaking.
+
+"Stop that noise!" he commanded. "Don't yell until you are hurt."
+
+"I want to yell now. Maybe I can't yell after I'm hurt," returned
+Chunky.
+
+"Guide! What is it?" roared the Professor, the perspiration standing out
+over his face, as Tad observed when the fire blazed up.
+
+Anvik finished what he was doing before he answered. Then he spoke
+without looking up.
+
+"Him mountain fall down."
+
+"Is it an ice slide?" shouted Tad.
+
+"Ugh!"
+
+"An avalanche, do you mean?"
+
+"Yes; an ice-avalanche," explained the Professor. "I have seen them in
+other parts of the world."
+
+"Sun make him ice weak; ice fall down," explained Anvik.
+
+"How about danger for us?" asked Walter.
+
+For answer the Indian shrugged his shoulders and went on poking the
+fire. Then, of a sudden, there came a crash like a salvo of artillery. A
+crushing, grinding mass shot by them, snuffing out the fire as it
+passed.
+
+Darkness and a terrifying silence followed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
+
+
+After the roar of the passing avalanche had ceased, and the awed silence
+became oppressive, Stacy Brown's voice was heard.
+
+"Ow-wow!" he wailed.
+
+"Are we all here, and safe?" called Tad. "Professor, Ned, Walter,
+Anvik!"
+
+Each answered to his name.
+
+"You didn't call for me," Chunky protested indignantly. "Don't I count
+in this outfit?"
+
+"That's easy," answered Tad. "When you're not making a noise we know
+you're somewhere else. Let's see what the ice did to our camp."
+
+"Heap one piece ice fall," grunted the guide. "Him sit on fire. Innua
+him mad, by jink!"
+
+"Is Innua the scoundrel who has been throwing sections of mountains at
+us?" demanded Walter.
+
+"He means the mountain spirit," explained Tad. "Don't you recall that
+Anvik wouldn't start out with us the first day because he said the
+mountain spirit was in a blue funk, or something of the sort?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Old Innua must have been in a rage to-night then, and we are lucky that
+we weren't in range of his projectiles," chuckled Tad.
+
+Beyond destroying their fire, no damage had been done to the camp.
+However, after the excitement no one felt like sleep, so the boys sat
+about the fire discussing the ice avalanche for an hour or more. Then,
+at the Professor's urgent insistence, they turned in. Anvik long since
+had wound himself up in his blanket and gone to sleep.
+
+Just as the dawn was graying, Tad got up, and shouldering his rifle
+slipped from the camp unobserved by anyone except the Indian. Anvik
+opened one eye, regarded the boy inquiringly, then closing the eye,
+dozed off. He was by this time too well used to Tad's morning excursions
+to ask any questions. He knew the boy was well able to take care of
+himself.
+
+Tad had a two-fold purpose in view in going out this morning. He wanted
+to get some fresh meat for the outfit and he also was curious to know
+what the smoke of the previous evening had meant. While he did not
+expect to come up with any strangers, he thought that, perhaps he might
+discover something.
+
+Tad did. He had proceeded less than a mile from camp when he smelled
+smoke. At first he thought the odor must come from his own camp, then he
+saw that the slight breeze was from the opposite direction.
+
+"That means that someone isn't far ahead of me. It means I am going to
+find out who it is if I can."
+
+After floundering about for fully half an hour, with the odor of smoke
+becoming more pungent all the time, the boy was on the point of
+confessing that he was beaten, when all at once he caught the sound of a
+human voice. The voice was not loud enough to enable him to distinguish
+the words, but he was quite sure it was the voice of a white man and not
+far away at that.
+
+"They have masked their camp. That's why I haven't been able to find
+them," muttered the boy, starting ahead again. After creeping forward
+cautiously for some time, a wave of suffocating smoke from burning wood
+smote him full in the face.
+
+Tad uttered a loud sneeze. Two men suddenly appeared in the haze of
+smoke, and the boy heard the sound of hands slapping pistol holsters. He
+was able to make the men out faintly, but not with sufficient clearness
+to see who or what they were.
+
+"Hold on, boys--don't shoot!" warned Butler, as he stepped around the
+smudge to enable him to get a better view of the men whom he had come
+upon so unexpectedly, to them.
+
+Before him stood Curtis Darwood and Dill Bruce, the latter known among
+his companions as the Pickle. Each man held his revolver ready for quick
+action.
+
+"Why, how do you do?" smiled Tad. "I hadn't the least idea I should find
+anyone I knew."
+
+"Well, suffering blue jays, if it isn't old Spotted Face!" exclaimed
+Bruce. "Howdy?"
+
+"Very good. How are you?" Tad stepped forward. Bruce shook hands
+cordially with the boy. Tad turned to Darwood, who had not said a word.
+The latter's face darkened, and he appeared not to have observed the
+hand that Tad extended toward him.
+
+"Aren't you going to shake hands with me, Mr. Darwood?" asked the lad.
+
+"I reckon you ought to know better than to ask it," returned the gold
+digger. "I reckon, further, that if you know what's good for you you'll
+be mushing out of this as fast as your legs will carry you, unless you
+are looking for trouble. Git!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+AN UNFRIENDLY RECEPTION
+
+
+Tad gazed at the gold digger in amazement.
+
+"I--I don't understand, Mr. Darwood."
+
+"Don't you understand plain English? I said 'git.' We don't want
+anything to do with you, and if we find you fooling about our outfit
+after this we'll try something else to keep you away," warned the
+prospector.
+
+"I don't know why you appear to have taken such a dislike to me. I am
+sure I have done nothing to merit it. However, I am equally sure that I
+don't want anything to do with you. If you change your mind and can act
+like a man, instead of a kid, I shall be glad to see you. But don't get
+funny. We may be boys but we are quite able to take care of ourselves,"
+answered Tad, turning away.
+
+"Stop!"
+
+Darwood's voice was stern. Tad halted and turned towards the two men.
+
+"You reckon you're mighty smart, I know, but you must think I'm a
+natural-born fool not to know that you have been following us all the
+way up here."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, you needn't play the innocent dodge. You know what I mean."
+
+"You--you think we have been following you?" questioned the boy,
+scarcely able to believe that the prospector was in earnest.
+
+"I don't think. I know. You're like all the rest of them. We have had
+this thing happen to us before. There are plenty more like you, and
+they've followed us, hoping they will be the first to discover the bear
+totem and the claim that we are in search of."
+
+"Taku Pass?" asked Butler with a half smile on his face.
+
+Darwood's face flushed angrily.
+
+"What did I tell you, Bruce?" he snapped. "Are you going?" he demanded,
+turning towards Tad.
+
+"Yes. I don't care to stay where I'm not wanted. But before going I am
+going to tell you something. We are not prospecting, nor following
+prospectors. We are taking our usual summer vacation on horseback. All I
+know about your affairs is what Captain Petersen of the 'Corsair' told
+me, and what I overheard from Sandy Ketcham. If you will recall I told
+you about that. The Captain gave me your history as far as he knew it,
+and I was much interested. How could I help being? I love adventure and
+so do my companions. We wanted to know more about it, but did not think
+it was any of our business until I overheard Ketcham plotting against
+you. We hadn't the least idea we ever should see you again. My finding
+you this morning was a pure accident."
+
+"How'd you happen to do it?" interjected Dill Bruce.
+
+"I saw your smoke signs last night."
+
+"What!"
+
+Darwood snapped the word out like the crack of a whip.
+
+"I saw your smoke signs. At least I suppose they were yours. This
+morning I started out, as I frequently do, in search of game. I smelled
+your smoke and out of curiosity hunted you up to see who our neighbors
+were. That's all there is to it. If you can get anything out of that you
+are welcome to it. I wish you luck in finding Taku Pass. If I should
+stumble on it, I'll look you up and let you know. We aren't looking for
+gold mines especially. 'Bye."
+
+"Well, what d'ye think of that?" grinned the Pickle after Tad had left
+them.
+
+"I think somebody will get hurt if they don't leave us alone," growled
+Darwood, caressing the butt of his revolver. "I'm getting tired of this
+kind of nagging."
+
+"That outfit isn't nagging you," answered Bruce.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"They are nothing but boys. At least one of them is the right sort.
+Spotted Face did us a favor. He isn't a crook."
+
+"I haven't said he was. But you don't know who is in their outfit now.
+Besides, there isn't one chance in a thousand that they'd be so close on
+our trail unless they had followed us on purpose. No, this business must
+be stopped. We may be on the right track, and if we are we must protect
+ourselves, and we'll do it, even though we have to kill a few curious
+hounds who are following the trail. The boy business may be merely a
+mask for the operations of some other persons."
+
+"Why don't you find out, then?"
+
+Darwood bent a keen gaze on his companion.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Hunt up their camp and see what is going on?"
+
+"I'll do it," answered the gold digger with emphasis. "What's more, I'll
+do it now."
+
+"That's the talk! If you hurry, you may be able to find the boy and
+follow him in. Shall I go along?"
+
+"No. You stay here and look after things. I may be away for some time. I
+don't know where they are, but I'll find them if it takes all day. If
+our two comrades come in, you hold them here. Needn't tell them where I
+am."
+
+Darwood shouldered his rifle and strode from his camp without another
+word. Bruce replenished the fire in order to make a smudge that could be
+smelled for some distance away, which was for the purpose of directing
+their companions to them, and also had served to call Tad Butler into
+their camp in advance of the other two gold diggers.
+
+Tad was out of sight by the time Curtis Darwood got out, but Darwood was
+able to follow the boy's trail, though it was not an easy one. Tad had
+made no effort to mask his trail, but his natural instincts taught him
+to leave as few indications of his progress as possible. Darwood saw
+this. Instead of lessening his suspicions this fact served to increase
+them. The gold digger was using his nose more than his eyes, sniffing
+the air for the smoke from the camp of the Pony Rider Boys' outfit. He
+caught the scent after half an hour or so of trudging over the hard
+trail. From this time on it was easy so far as finding his way was
+concerned. Butler, knowing the way, had made much better time back to
+his own camp.
+
+Breakfast was ready by the time he reached there. Tad did not mention
+his experience, not having decided what he would do in this matter.
+
+"You find big smoke?" questioned the Indian as Tad stood over him by the
+fire.
+
+"Yes," answered the lad carelessly. Anvik shrewdly deduced that Butler
+had made some sort of discovery, but he asked no further questions.
+Perhaps the guide also had discovered that they had near neighbors. If
+so he kept that fact to himself.
+
+The boys sat down to breakfast. They discussed the day's ride and talked
+of their further journeyings, though Tad had little to say that morning.
+He was thinking deeply on what had just occurred.
+
+The breakfast was about half finished when the lad flashed a quick, keen
+glance in the direction from which he had entered the camp. The others
+did not observe his sharp glance of inquiry. Tad had seen something. A
+movement of the foliage had attracted his observant eyes. He glanced at
+Anvik, who was sitting with his back to the party, gazing off over the
+mountains to the rear of them and through which they had worked their
+way to the present camping place.
+
+Tad casually reached over for his rifle that was standing against a
+rock.
+
+"What's up?" demanded Ned sharply.
+
+"I want to examine my gun," replied the boy.
+
+"Funny time to examine it when eating your breakfast," spoke up Walter.
+
+"I prefer to eat," said Stacy.
+
+"We know that," chuckled Ned. "No need for you to tell us."
+
+The Professor was eyeing Tad inquiringly, observing that the boy's face
+was slightly flushed.
+
+"What is it, Tad?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, except that I am going to take a pot shot at an intruder,"
+replied the boy calmly, suddenly leveling his rifle on the bushes where
+he had observed the movement a few moments before.
+
+He pulled the trigger. A deafening crash brought the boys to their feet,
+yelling. The shot was followed by a shout from the bushes.
+
+"Stop that shooting, you fool!" roared a voice. Tad put down his gun,
+grinning broadly, the others dancing about excitedly.
+
+[Illustration: Curtis Darwood Stepped Out.]
+
+"Come out of that or I'll give you something to yell at," commanded the
+Pony Rider Boy.
+
+Curtis Darwood, his face stern and determined, stepped out into the open
+and walked straight towards the amazed group now standing near the
+campfire. The Indian guide was the only person who had not gotten up
+when Tad Butler sent a bullet into the thicket fully six feet above the
+head of the gold digger who was spying on the camp.
+
+Darwood was more angry at having been discovered than being shot at. He
+had heard the bullet rip through the foliage above his head, and knew
+that the shot had been intended to stir him up rather than to reach him.
+That the boy whom he had driven from his own camp should have thus
+turned the tables on him angered him almost beyond his control. Darwood
+was so angry that he failed to see any humor in the situation.
+
+"It is Mr. Darwood, isn't it?" cried the Professor with face aglow,
+striding forward with outstretched hand. As in Butler's case, Darwood
+professed not to see the proffered hand. He looked the Professor
+squarely in the face.
+
+"Won't you sit down and have a snack with us?" asked Professor Zepplin.
+"We were eating when Tad fired that shot. That was very careless of you,
+young man. You might have killed someone."
+
+"I reckon he knew whom he was shooting at," answered the gold digger.
+"You see, this isn't the first time that young fellow and myself have
+met."
+
+"Of course not. We all met on the 'Corsair,'" spoke up Rector.
+
+"He and I have met since then," answered Darwood. "I reckon you know all
+about it. He came spying on our camp this morning just after daylight,
+and--"
+
+"You know that isn't true," interjected Tad. "Why don't you tell it
+straight if you are bound to tell it?"
+
+The miner let one hand fall to his holster.
+
+"Up in this country they don't call men liars," answered Darwood,
+looking Butler coldly in the eyes.
+
+"Then men shouldn't place themselves in a position to be called liars,"
+retorted Tad boldly. "You had better take your hand from your revolver.
+If you will take the time to glance at the rock to your right you may
+possibly see something to interest you."
+
+The miner cast a quick glance of inquiry in the direction indicated, and
+found himself looking into the muzzle of a rifle, laid over the top of
+the rock. Behind the rifle was Chunky, one eye peering over the sights.
+
+Tad laughed.
+
+"Stacy!" thundered the Professor. "What does this mean?"
+
+"Nothing, Professor," answered Tad. "Chunky got a little excited, that
+is all. You may put the gun down, Stacy. Mr. Darwood doesn't understand;
+that's all. Sit down and have a snack with us, as the Professor has
+asked you to do," urged Butler.
+
+"I don't want to eat with you. You know it. Don't you go to getting me
+riled or I won't answer for the consequences."
+
+"Neither will I," answered Tad smilingly. "We are easy to get along with
+unless someone treads on our toes; then it's a different story. Sit down
+and we will talk this matter over."
+
+Tad threw himself down beside the fire. Stacy still sat behind the rock,
+gazing suspiciously at their early morning visitor.
+
+"I demand to know the meaning of this scene," said the Professor
+sternly.
+
+"Let Mr. Darwood tell you," replied Butler.
+
+The gold digger made no answer. Tad turned to the Professor.
+
+"I will tell you what there is to it, sir. Mr. Darwood thinks we are
+like some others he has met. He thinks we are trying to steal his gold
+mine," declared Tad in an impressive voice.
+
+Professor Zepplin flushed deeply.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE PROFESSOR IN A RAGE
+
+
+"What!" fairly exploded Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Mr. Darwood accuses us of having followed him to find out where this
+wonderful gold deposit is located. He thinks we want to steal it away
+from him."
+
+"Preposterous!"
+
+"Show me some gold," urged Stacy, edging near. "I am looking for gold. I
+don't make any bones about saying so, either."
+
+"Be silent," commanded the Professor.
+
+"I smelled smoke when I was out this morning," continued Butler. "I
+followed the scent until I stumbled into Mr. Darwood's camp. It was his
+signal smokes that we saw yesterday. Mr. Darwood did not give me a very
+cordial welcome; he ordered me out of his camp. Not only that, but he
+threatened me in case we persisted in following him. I think he would
+have used his pistol on me if I had not gone away when I did."
+
+"Is this true, Darwood?" questioned the Professor, who was restraining
+himself with an effort.
+
+"I reckon it's right, so far as it goes. I know what you fellows are up
+to. You may think you can fool me, but I've been in these parts too long
+to be an easy mark. It's nobody's business whether we are in search of
+gold or whether we are up here for our health. Whatever our business is,
+we don't propose to have a lot of folks sticking their noses into it."
+
+"What do you propose that we shall do?" asked Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I don't care what you do," roared the gold digger.
+
+"Then there is nothing more to be said."
+
+"Oh, yes there is. There's a lot to be said. I am not going to say it
+all right here, but I reckon I'll say it in a different way later on.
+You are following us. Don't deny it. I know you are. You pumped the
+Captain and everybody else on the boat about us. Then, when you thought
+you had got all the information you wanted, you followed us."
+
+"It's not true. You know it's a lie!" shouted the Professor.
+
+"Be careful how you nag me on," warned the miner.
+
+"You know you think nothing of the kind. What is it that you reckon to
+say at some other time?"
+
+"This," answered Darwood, tapping his holster significantly.
+
+Tad laughed softly to himself. This angered the gold digger more than
+ever.
+
+"You folks get out of these hills! Go anywhere you want to, but get out
+and get out quick. Some more of my men are coming along to-day. If you
+are here to-night it will be the worse for you," threatened the miner.
+
+"Which direction would you suggest our taking?" asked Tad in a soothing
+voice.
+
+"Go back the way you came. I don't care where you go."
+
+"You are not consistent," laughed the freckle-faced boy. "You tell us
+you don't care where we go, then you order us to proceed in a definite
+direction. You are going too far, Mr. Darwood. When you have had a
+chance to cool down I think you will look at this matter in a different
+light. If you will use your head a little you will see it is not
+possible that we could have had any previous knowledge of your plans or
+of your gold mine. You had better make friends with us. We might be of
+some use to you. Professor Zepplin is a scientist. He could give you
+valuable help. Shall we call quits and shake hands? Come on."
+
+The words that he would utter seemed to stick in the gold digger's
+throat. He clutched twice at his holster, but the evident desire on his
+part to use his pistol appeared to have no effect at all on the Pony
+Rider outfit. Darwood knew very well that drawing his weapon would
+practically be the end of himself, and this did not tend to make his
+situation any better.
+
+"I'll not shake hands with you. I am going back to my camp. If you
+thieves are here by to-night I promise you there will be something
+doing. I--"
+
+Professor Zepplin strode forward, his whiskers bristling, his fists
+clenched. The boys never had seen their guardian so angry.
+
+"That for your threats!" he roared, shaking a fist under the nose of
+Curtis Darwood. "Your threats don't frighten us. Your pistol doesn't
+frighten us. We're not that kind."
+
+The miner started to reply.
+
+"Don't you open your mouth or I shall forget myself and slap your face.
+Thieves!" Professor Zepplin struggled to master his emotions. "Thieves!
+This is too much. You tell us that if we are here to-night you will make
+matters lively for us. If it will accommodate you any we will remain
+right here. But we should be on our way. We are going to follow a
+straight course as near as possible to the northwest. We shall, with
+reasonable luck, be about twenty miles from here by eleven o'clock
+to-night. If that is the direction you are going you will have no
+difficulty in finding us. But let me warn you, sir, we shall put up with
+no trifling. We have as good a right to be here as have you, and I am
+not sure but that we have a better right."
+
+"We'll see about that," retorted Darwood angrily.
+
+"You let us alone! Do you hear? You let us alone! If you are looking for
+trouble you may have all you want and then some more besides. We are
+peaceable travelers, but we know from long experience how to take care
+of ourselves. Have you anything more to say to me?" demanded the
+Professor.
+
+"I reckon not. I've said my say."
+
+"Then get out before I forget myself and hit you on the nose!" roared
+Professor Zepplin. "Don't you dare come fooling around our camp again,
+and thank your lucky stars that Master Tad didn't make a mistake and
+shoot lower. Are you going, or are you waiting for me to throw you out?"
+fumed the Professor.
+
+"I reckon I'm going. You'll hear from me again. Next time the shoe will
+pinch the other foot."
+
+"It will be the foot that kicks you out of camp in that case," answered
+the Professor.
+
+"Hooray!" howled the fat boy. "Three cheers for Professor Zip-zip!"
+
+"Be silent!" thundered Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Yes, you had better look out or he will take it out of you after Mr.
+Darwood has gone," warned Tad. "The Professor is all stirred up."
+
+The Professor was. Darwood turned and strode from the camp without
+trusting himself to utter another word. Professor Zepplin strode back
+and forth with clenched fists, muttering to himself for five minutes
+after the departure of their guest.
+
+"He called us thieves!" he exclaimed, halting and glaring angrily at
+Stacy.
+
+"Well, don't blame me for it," answered the fat boy.
+
+"Professor, calm yourself," begged Tad. "Those men have met with a lot
+of crookedness. You can't blame them. I shouldn't be surprised if some
+other person had been trying to follow them since they have been out
+this time. They probably think we are in league with the others to get
+ahead of them in the discovery of this treasure."
+
+"I don't believe there is any treasure," raged the Professor.
+
+"As to that, of course, I can't say, but I should think it quite
+probable that they had something definite. There must be something in
+what they have to go on. They are not fools, but intelligent men. What
+is more, they must think they are on the right track or they wouldn't
+fly off the handle as Darwood has done to-day. What will you do?" asked
+Tad.
+
+"Do? Do? What do you think I am going to do?"
+
+"Knowing you as I do, I should say you would go on as we have planned,"
+answered Butler laughingly.
+
+"Exactly! If that man thinks he can frighten us out of our course he
+will find that he has made a grave mistake."
+
+"Why didn't you punch him when you had the chance?" demanded Chunky.
+"You could have hit him an awful wallop when his chin was in the air
+that time."
+
+"Stacy! You are a savage!" rebuked the Professor.
+
+"Maybe, maybe," reflected the fat boy. "But judging from some things
+that have occurred in this camp this morning, I'm not the only savage in
+the outfit."
+
+The boys laughed uproariously.
+
+"That's one for you, Professor," chuckled Ned.
+
+"Anvik! We break camp at once," fairly snapped the Professor.
+
+"Gold man him heap fool," grunted the Indian.
+
+"No, not that, Anvik. He is gold-mad like all the rest of them,"
+corrected Butler. "I hope I never shall get that way."
+
+"It can't be such bad fun to be gold-mad," argued Stacy, who usually
+wanted the other side of an argument. "I'd like to try it once, if I
+could find enough gold to make it interesting."
+
+Camp was hastily broken that morning, for there was much lost time to be
+made up. Everyone was eager to get started, anxious to find out what
+would be the outcome of the dispute with the gold diggers.
+
+"We don't know in what direction they're going to move, while they do
+know our route," said Tad. "So it will be an easy matter for Darwood to
+watch us as long as he wants to keep us in sight."
+
+At seven o'clock that morning Professor Zepplin gave the word to "mush."
+This morning the Professor was extremely silent, but there was a grim
+look to the corners of his mouth.
+
+Exciting experiences lay before them all. The boys felt it in the very
+air about them. The certainty made them feel buoyant and exhilarated.
+Surely this wild old Alaska was a great bit of country!
+
+"I don't care how soon somebody starts something," mused Ned. "We have
+our heavy artillery well on ahead."
+
+As he spoke he gazed smilingly at the tight-jawed Professor, who never
+looked to better advantage than when in warlike mood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+TAD DISCOVERS SOMETHING
+
+
+"I don't see our friends," said Ned, an hour later.
+
+"They're not in their camp," answered Tad. "We passed that an hour ago.
+They have no horses, so they're packing their outfits on their backs."
+
+"Huh! That's one part of the gold-madness that I don't want," said
+Chunky. "Do all gold diggers have to pack their outfits?"
+
+"I guess few of them can afford to buy ponies," answered Butler. "Then,
+too, the places they go to are usually beyond the reach of anything
+except a wild animal. We are fortunate if we get through with our stock.
+Even our own ponies that we left at home would never be able to make
+this rough trail. What's that, Anvik?"
+
+The guide was pointing to a waving ribbon of white that appeared to
+reach from point to point on the rocks high above them and some distance
+ahead.
+
+"What is it?" demanded the boy.
+
+"Him goat."
+
+"Mountain goats? Look, boys!" cried Tad.
+
+Stacy threw up his rifle and took a shot. Of course he missed. A leaping
+mountain goat is not an easy mark even for the best shot, and the fat
+boy, while shooting very well, could hardly be called an expert.
+
+"Those are the animals from which the beautiful blankets are made," the
+Professor informed them. "Do you know how the Indians get the wool?"
+
+"They pull it out by the roots, I guess," suggested Stacy.
+
+"Hardly," laughed Ned.
+
+"Spring is the shedding time. The goats, in leaping from place to place,
+leave tufts of wool clinging to rocks and bushes, and this the lazy
+Indians gather for their blankets, rather than take the trouble to hunt
+the goats."
+
+"Squaw him get wool," spoke up Anvik.
+
+"Worse yet," laughed Butler. "You are the laziest folks on earth."
+
+"Squaw work, him no talk lies. Him mouth keep shut."
+
+The boys laughed at this crude reasoning of the Indian.
+
+"Did they teach you at the Mission to make your squaws work?" asked Tad
+Butler.
+
+Anvik shook his head slowly. He did not answer in words, but hastened
+his pony's pace by his heavy pull at the halter.
+
+All that day the boys kept a lookout for smoke, but in vain. After they
+had made camp that night the Professor said:
+
+"There are indications here of unusual formations. If you have no
+objections I should like to remain here for a day, perhaps two, and do
+research work."
+
+"Right, Professor," replied Tad. "The ponies will be better for a rest,
+and maybe we can do some hunting. How about it, Anvik?"
+
+"Anvik not care," was the guide's reply.
+
+After breakfast the next morning the Professor set off at once.
+
+"Now, fellows," said Tad, "I propose that Stacy and I follow that ravine
+to the left and Ned and Walter go to the right. From the formation I
+should say that some time late in the day we ought to meet. It's wild in
+those passes, and we should get game."
+
+After arranging that three quick shots should announce the finding of
+game and that the distress signal of one shot, a pause, then two quick
+shots should be a call for help, the boys set off, each carrying
+biscuit, a drinking cup, and matches, besides their rifles.
+
+The boys tramped all morning without sighting game.
+
+After a short rest the two boys went on again, bearing more to the left.
+As they trudged on the sound of rushing water was borne to their ears.
+Then they came out on a broad stream, a torrent that came from the top
+of three lofty, ice-covered mountains.
+
+"Let's work up toward that pass," suggested Tad, wishing to see the
+gulch from which the stream was flowing.
+
+They had worked their way upstream for half a mile when Chunky yelled:
+
+"Look there! What's that?"
+
+Tad saw a hideous head projecting above the bushes. At first he was
+startled, then he laughed.
+
+"That's a totem pole, Chunky. They're put up usually in behalf of the
+Indian dead to drive the spirits away. Let's go and look at it."
+
+The totem pole was standing at the entrance of a second narrow gulch.
+Sand and shale rock were heaped up at the entrance.
+
+"A stream flowed through here at one time, Stacy. I imagine that it was
+the same body of water we've just been looking at."
+
+"Yeh," said Stacy absently. "Say, Tad, let's see who can first hit that
+evil-looking thing with a stone."
+
+Tad laughed and stooped to pick up a stone. As he did so, he noticed an
+arrow cut into the rock at one side of the gulch, the point of the arrow
+aimed up the gulch.
+
+"That's queer," muttered the boy. "I suppose it's an Indian sign. This
+is a place of many mysteries." He stooped to pick up the rusty-looking
+stone that had caught his glance. It was worn full of holes as if by the
+action of water and when he took it in his hand its heaviness aroused
+his curiosity. Opening his knife, he dug into the stone.
+
+Tad's face flushed a vivid red, and he uttered a sharp exclamation.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Stacy.
+
+"Nothing much. Maybe I've made a discovery. Don't let's idle here. Let's
+go on and see if we can't get our bear. This seems to be our lucky day,"
+said the boy, pocketing the stone and once more shouldering his rifle.
+"Come, mush, as Anvik would say."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+Professor Zepplin had been closeted in his tent for an hour when he
+beckoned Tad Butler to enter.
+
+"Boy, this rusty stone that you picked up is a gold nugget, worth, I
+should say, all of five hundred dollars!" cried the Professor excitedly.
+"Are there more of them, Tad?"
+
+"I can't say. I found this one on a bar where it was probably washed
+down. The place was once a stream, but it changed its course and is now
+some distance to the west. I've an idea that there's gold in that
+sand-bar."
+
+"Then we'd better go after it. It probably belongs to no one."
+
+"I'm not sure of that. Others may have a juster claim than we have,
+Professor."
+
+"You suspect something, Tad, without knowing fully. We'll look at the
+place and decide what to do later."
+
+The others were in bed, but still awake when Tad left the Professor's
+tent, but to their questions he gave evasive answers.
+
+It seemed to Tad that he had been asleep but a few minutes when he felt
+a touch on his shoulder. He sat up, instantly wide awake. Anvik was
+bending over him.
+
+"Somebody come," muttered the guide. "One, two, three, four, maybe
+more."
+
+Day was just breaking. Tad awakened his companions, giving each
+instructions as to what he was to do. Then he hurried to the Professor's
+tent to give Anvik's news.
+
+"Look out!" yelled Stacy shrilly.
+
+A series of quick, sharp reports punctured the stillness of the morning.
+Tad and Professor Zepplin dashed out, and so did Walter Perkins. Ned
+Rector and Stacy Brown were nowhere to be seen. Anvik stood against a
+rock, his blanket drawn about him, the muzzle of a rifle protruding from
+the lower end of it.
+
+Four men appeared in the open, each holding a rifle. The rifles were
+aimed at the members of the Pony Rider outfit.
+
+"It's Darwood!" gasped the Professor. It was Darwood, accompanied by Sam
+Dawson, Dill Bruce and Curley Tinker. "What's the meaning of this
+outrage, gentlemen?" he demanded.
+
+"I gave you warning to mush back to where you came from," answered
+Darwood.
+
+"And I told you we'd do nothing of the sort!"
+
+"You're going now, and in a hurry!"
+
+"What will you do if we refuse again?"
+
+"You'll find out what we'll do. We're north of fifty-three now. You know
+what that means. Put down those guns, and do it quick."
+
+"Suppose you set the example," said Tad quietly. He had not spoken up to
+this point.
+
+"Keep still!" commanded Darwood. "Put down those guns."
+
+"Don't be in a hurry," advised Tad. "Before you do anything that you'll
+regret, let me say that every man of you is covered. The slightest
+hostile motion on your part is your death warrant."
+
+"The Indian's got away!" cried Dawson.
+
+Darwood for the first time realized that all the Pony Rider outfit was
+not in sight.
+
+"Either your friends will put down their guns and come out or we'll
+shoot," snarled Darwood, fixing his gaze on Tad Butler.
+
+"Are you so anxious to die, Curtis Darwood?" asked the lad calmly.
+
+Darwood flushed, but the four men lowered their rifles to the ground.
+
+"Mr. Darwood, I have something to tell you. Sit down," went on the boy.
+
+"I reckon we'll do nothing of the sort."
+
+"Sit down, I say!"
+
+The men obeyed reluctantly.
+
+"Keep them covered until they come to their senses, boys," directed Tad.
+Then he went on to the men: "We don't blame you for feeling that every
+man's hand is against you; but I'm going to prove to you that ours are
+not. See this?" and Tad tossed to Darwood the rusty stone that he had
+found in the sand-bar.
+
+"Gold! A nugget of pure gold," breathed Darwood. "Where did you get it?"
+
+"Perhaps we found the Taku Pass."
+
+"And we've lost it," groaned Dawson.
+
+"We'll fight for it, then!" shouted Darwood.
+
+"You might wait until there's need for fighting, Mr. Darwood," said Tad
+contemptuously. He then went on to describe the totem pole, while his
+listeners became more and more excited. They got out an old map, and
+after studying it Tad said:
+
+"It is the Taku Pass that Stacy and I discovered. As it is undoubtedly
+yours, we relinquish all claim to the land."
+
+"How much do you want for the relinquishment?" asked Dawson.
+
+"Nothing. Sit down and have breakfast with us and then we will lead you
+to the place."
+
+"I can't say much," said Darwood falteringly. "We've been a bunch of
+driveling idiots."
+
+After breakfast Anvik was sent to the men's camp for pans and implements
+and supplies, and the others set off in Tad Butler's wake to explore the
+gulch.
+
+At one point the party found a slender vein of pure gold, enough to give
+hope that the vein broadened out farther on. Tad, in a cavelike niche,
+saw a gray streak of ore that reached for a long distance. A piece of
+this about the size of a goose egg lay at his feet. It was heavy, and he
+put it in his pocket to show to the others.
+
+Anvik came in with the tools, surveying chains, and pans, and Darwood
+and the others staked off their claims, taking in enough to give each
+boy a claim, putting up heaps of stones to mark the boundaries.
+
+"Of course, if anyone else were to file a prior claim we'd have a hard
+time to substantiate ours. But there's not much danger."
+
+The claim staked, Darwood proposed that they pan in the bar to see what
+they could find. To the delight of all, sparkling particles of rich
+yellow dust lay in the bottoms of the sieves, and they felt convinced
+that there was gold in paying quantities.
+
+Once more back in the camp, the Professor disappeared into his tent.
+When he emerged he looked excited.
+
+"Boys!" he shouted. "Tad! Your sample is platinum! Gentlemen, you have
+indeed a fortune! The platinum is worth about double its weight in
+gold!"
+
+Such a hurrah as went up! Such an evening of rejoicing and excitement!
+But early the next morning came the reaction.
+
+Tad, up early, went out to the claim, too impatient to await breakfast.
+To his amazement instead of finding the markers they had set, he found
+that they had been removed, and in their places some one had cut off
+saplings and marked the stumps of them with deep-cut notches.
+
+"It's that rascal, Sandy Ketcham," declared Darwood in a strained voice,
+when Tad reported his discovery. "He's been on our trail for nearly
+three years, and now he's got us! He's on his way to Skagway now to
+register the claim in the land office," the man groaned.
+
+"We'll get ahead of them, then," cried Tad. "He hasn't much of a start.
+When does a steamer leave Yakutat?"
+
+"This is the twenty-third. The 'Corsair' will leave Yakutat on the
+twenty-seventh. He will just about make it."
+
+"So will I," cried Tad Butler stoutly.
+
+Tad won Professor Zepplin's consent to his plan, and after Darwood had
+got the papers ready and the boys had gathered provisions together, Tad
+was off, riding one pony and leading another, that he might change from
+one to the other, thus avoiding tiring either.
+
+With lather standing out all over his mount, Tad pounded on, eyes and
+ears alight for Sandy Ketcham. He halted at noon to change horses and
+let each drink a little from a spring. Then on once more for seemingly
+countless hours.
+
+There was a brief pause in the evening, to allow the ponies to rest and
+graze, then on again in the darkness. The second night a longer rest was
+imperative, while Tad fretted, tired as he was, to be off again.
+
+On the third day he came across the still hot ashes of a campfire, and
+decided that he was not far behind Ketcham. Still twenty miles from
+Yakutat, one of the ponies strained a tendon. The boy was forced
+regretfully to abandon the animal and to go forward on the second mount.
+
+It was about eleven o'clock in the morning of the fourth day that he
+caught sight of a column of black smoke through an opening between the
+mountains.
+
+"It's the 'Corsair,'" he groaned. "She's getting ready to sail."
+
+On and on he rode. He swept through the village on the panting pony and
+down to the dock to see the 'Corsair' weighing anchor.
+
+Tad Butler set up a yell, then drove his pony into the bay. No small
+boats were in sight, so, throwing himself in the icy water, he grasped
+the pony's mane and, swimming with the animal, headed for the ship.
+
+The anchor was up, but Captain Petersen had not yet signaled for slow
+speed ahead. He ordered a boat lowered and Tad was hauled aboard in a
+semi-dazed condition. Relieved of its burden, the pony rose and swam for
+shore. Tad was confined to his cabin, worn out by the hard ride and the
+icy swim. But he learned that Ketcham was on board, and Ketcham, of
+course, knew of Tad's presence.
+
+The morning of their arrival at Skagway was gray and windy. The sea was
+rolling into the harbor in heavy, boisterous swells. The captain
+announced that he would not put off a boat until the sea subsided, as
+capsizing was certain in the heavy seas.
+
+Tad, impatient, was standing at the rail when he saw Sandy Ketcham leap
+over the rail into the sea. The boy did not hesitate. He sprang to the
+rail and dived as far out as he could, striking a rod or so behind
+Ketcham. Then began a desperate race. But youth won, and Tad staggered
+out of the water a few moments ahead of his adversary and ran for the
+land office, Ketcham close behind him.
+
+"I file the claim to Taku Pass in the name of Curtis Darwood and
+others," shouted Tad, slapping the oilskin parcel on the desk. "That
+man's an impostor. He destroyed our markers and erected his own on our
+claim."
+
+"It's a lie!" yelled Sandy, making a leap for the boy.
+
+There was a furious fight, in which the interested bystanders did not
+interfere. But at last Tad's fist shot up in a vicious uppercut on the
+man's chin, and Sandy Ketcham settled to the floor as the boy leaped out
+of the way.
+
+"Have you filed the papers?" gasped Tad.
+
+"Sure, boy! You've won the first round. The rest will be up to the
+government, but I guess you've got it clinched for all time."
+
+When Tad returned to Yakutat three government surveyors went with him to
+run the lines and definitely establish the claim. Sandy Ketcham also
+filed a claim, but Tad's being the prior one the case would have to be
+decided by the proper government officials; though there was really no
+doubt of the outcome.
+
+For a month after Tad Butler's return the Pony Rider Boys stayed at Taku
+Pass, panning over a section allotted to them by the Gold Diggers, each
+filling a small sack with yellow dust and a few nuggets. In addition the
+Gold Diggers insisted that the boys and their tutor jointly should have
+a twentieth interest in the claims, which would undoubtedly give each a
+comfortable amount of wealth.
+
+It was their last night in the camp and the boys and the Professor were
+talking over future plans.
+
+"I'm going home to rest and study after my strenuous life of the last
+few seasons," the Professor stated. "How about you, Walter?"
+
+"Father has a job for me as messenger in a bank in St. Joseph," answered
+Walter Perkins.
+
+"Your turn, Chunky. What's it to be?"
+
+"Banking. I'm going into Walter Perkins' father's bank."
+
+"Does father know about it?"
+
+"Of course he does!" retorted Stacy. "Did you think I was going to break
+into the bank?"
+
+"Can't tell about you," laughed Tad. "As for Ned and me--Professor
+Zepplin's friend, Colonel Van Zandt, who has large timber interests, has
+used his influence to get us appointments in the United States Forestry
+Service. We'll go to work next spring. And now, fellows, I suggest that
+we give three cheers for the best fellow that ever lived, Professor
+Zepplin!"
+
+The cheers were given with a will, then all went to their tents for
+their last night in their camp in Alaska.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in Alaska, by Frank Gee Patchin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN ALASKA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 30588.txt or 30588.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/5/8/30588/
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.