CHAPTER XIV
on the butte
BREAKFAST, both for themselves and the burros, was the first thing to do. Buoyant in spirits after the depression of the cavern with its muggy atmosphere, braced by the fresh air that, while it renewed oxygen to their lungs, brought also a surging realization of the success of their quest, they went joking down their makeshift ladder, Harvey first, then Healy from ledge to ledge in the loop at the end of the rope, followed by Stone and Larkin. The burros were safe and sound though undoubtedly thirsty, for they greedily lapped up what water was not needed for the coffee though as it cooled it grew unmistakably stale and odorous of sulphur. Bacon was soon frying, the campbread on, and coffee brewed. Over the meal they held a council.
"No use blastin' down more of thet rock," suggested Harvey. "Got all we kin tote now. I'll meander down to Tonto Crick with the burros and give 'em a good feed. You chaps can be hauling up thet gold 'gainst my comin' back. We'll travel light an' leave ev'rything we can in the shape of tools. Mebbe you kin find some way of closin' thet rock ag'in, Stone?"
"I can try, anyway," said Stone. "We'll set up our monuments and notices and then hike it for Miami and the railroad to Globe."
"I'll go with Harvey," suggested Healy. "I wouldn't be much use in bringing up the gold and I don't want to tackle that climb again, unless I have to. It's hard work fending off from the cliff with one hand and my arm isn't in very good shape. I got too excited, I guess, and over-used it."
"Come along," said Harvey. He stood up and gazed toward the rim of the mesa and the gorge whence they had emerged from the main cañon. "Hullo," he said, "what's this? Someone comin' our way. A whole herd of 'em. Something wrong here. Hear that?"
"That," was the faint but unmistakable pop-pop of small arms, clear in the rare air, followed by the sharper crack of rifles. They all sprang to their feet.
Racing toward the mesa at top speed, the powdery soil flying up in tiny clouds from the spurning hoofs, came two figures on horseback, leaning low over their ponies' withers. Now and then one of the figures twisted in the saddle and a tiny ball of white smoke showed, followed by the pop of a pistol. Behind them came a group of about a dozen, galloping hard, firing rifles from the pommel. The sun, mounting just above the mesa level, was dazzling, and they shaded their eyes for a better view.
"Gels!" cried Harvey whose eyes, though old, were better trained for such conditions. "They're wearin' ridin' pants but they're sure 'nough gels. An' them thet's after 'em is Mexicans, spurrin' like the devil."
Stone and Larkin ran for the chimney and the ladder. There was no doubt in their minds as to whom the girls were. Lola and Peggy! In the stimulation of their discovery and the urge for breakfast they had left their rifles where they had placed them the night before, by the entrance to the tunnel. Stone reached the rope first and swarmed up it hand-over-hand, aided by the spikes, Larkin close behind him. They gained the upper ledge and raced for the opening, gathering up two rifles apiece and returning. The rope hung limp.
"Where in 'ell is 'Arvey?" panted Larkin. "'Ealy's funked it."
"They'll come," shouted Stone. "Get busy with your rifle, man."
They put down the extra guns and pumped cartridges into breeches as they came to the outer rim of the horseshoe ledge. The girls, with their lighter weights, maintained their distance though it looked as if their mounts were tiring. And their revolvers were more defiant than useful at the range that gave all the advantage to the larger party with their heavier weapons. From the altitude it was possible to fire at the Mexicans without danger to the fugitives, for the flight was at a tangent.
"About eight 'undred yards," said Larkin as he swiftly raised his sights. Stone took his judgment and they both fired at once. Four or five bullets went wild before they got the range and then a horse and man went crashing down. A second rider dropped from the saddle and lay sprawling on the sand as the band changed to open order but still came on.
"Myke it five 'undred and haim 'igh," said Larkin. "Damn that 'Arvey and 'Ealy. They've tricked us. I allus said they was in cahoots. Ah! I got yer that time, hold cocky! 'Ell, they've 'it one of the girls!"
Lola and Peggy were close enough now for recognition. Both had lost their hats and the dark flowing hair of Lola and the yellow locks of Peggy streamed behind them. The buckskin ridden by Lola suddenly leaped and started to plunge, a stream of blood showing high up on its flank. But the girl managed him and they came on toward the butte, firing no longer but looking up toward the two men.
The desertion of Healy and Harvey stung Stone to madness. Every second he expected that they would make an attempt to shoot the mounts of the girls. He did not believe they would attempt to injure them but they had their revolvers with them and as soon as the girls got to the base of the butte they might intimidate them and make them prisoners while he and Larkin would be at their mercy if they attempted to descend.
While he pumped lead at the bandits who had chased the girls out of the main cañon, his brain worked like a motion-picture film, projecting a score of pictures that pointed to the successful springing of a trap with Healy and Castro as the instigators. The telegrams, Healy's delirious mutterings, the men and horses crossing the chalcedony plateau, the cigarette-end, his lengthy search for the Teapot Rock, his rising in the night and the explanation of coyotes, bolstered by Harvey's corroboration, all flashed through his mind as he savagely ground his teeth. And now they would get the girls.
Healy had craftily waited to spring the trap until the secret of the butte had been unlocked by Stone. How the girls had come upon the scene he could not yet fathom. It was sufficient that they were there. And the cause of it was the cursed gold that lay within. What a fool he had been! If only he had listened more to Larkin!
His rage seemed to steady his aim. A bullet sent a man toppling backward over his pony's tail while the brute galloped off, trailing its master, whose spurred boot had caught in the stirrup. Larkin shot another horse and the cavalcade halted, palpably disturbed at the excellence of the aim. There was some discussion and then a leader waved a hand and the troop wheeled and galloped off toward a neighbouring butte while Stone and Larkin sped them in their retreat with humming missiles.
The girls had come up close to the butte and were calling as Stone threw the strap of his rifle across his shoulder and made for the rope.
"They'll pot you as you go down," warned Larkin. "Hey, girls, look out down there for Healy and"
An exclamation from Stone checked him. Harvey was at the foot of the ladder, weakly standing against the rock of the chute. There was blood across his bald pate and he seemed dazed. An inkling of what had happened flashed over Stone and he shouted down.
"What's wrong, Harvey? Quick, man."
The old man steadied himself and looked up. Then he stooped and picked up his gun that lay at his feet.
"Healy shot me," he said. "I'm all right. Come on down. I'll look out for 'em."
Stone slid down the rope and Larkin, after one more admonition to the girls, followed him. By the time they reached the bottom the girls had dismounted and come into the comparative shelter of the chute. They had their revolvers in their hands. Harvey was with them. The wounded horse was not badly hurt and Stone put them with the burros.
"Thet skunk cracked at me before I guessed what he was up to," he said. "Figgered 'e'd got me. He sure grooved my old skull. Then he lit out, darn his ornery hide."
Stone swiftly sized up the situation. To attempt to leave the butte would be madness. They would be inevitably surrounded or shot down. Yet to climb to the cave meant abandoning the burros and the horses of the two girls. But there was no help for it. There was plenty of food and with the water in the cavern they could stand a siege. Lola's first words helped the decision.
"A posse will be along here before very long," she said. "We rode ahead to warn you."
"Then up with you!" said Stone. "Larkin, show 'em how. I'll get the grub. Hurry, they may be down on us."
The girls, lithe and boyish in their riding togs, nimbly mounted while Harvey, who was none too steady on his pins but protested his ability, helped Stone collect the food. Stone sent him up next, then bundled up the supplies and tied them to the ends of the doubled line. As he raised up from doing this a shot came from above just as a bullet spatted against the granite close to his ear. He wheeled, his revolver ready, but saw nothing.
"It was 'Ealy," shouted down Larkin. "Took a pot at yer. And I 'ad ter miss 'im. Come on hup. I'll cover yer. 'E's dodged horf."
Stone resisted the inclination to duel it out with Healy. Another shout warned him that the horsemen were coming out from the near-by butte and he swarmed up to the ledge and hauled after him the bundle of provisions.
"Take the girls back inside, Lefty," he said. "And look out for Harvey. I want to see what those devils are up to. And if Healy shows his dirty carcass, I'll plug him. He may try to get one of the horses. If he does I'll get him."
He lay down full length on the ledge, watching for a chance to shoot. But the attackers were wary of the fire that had disposed of a third of their number and rode quickly out of the angle of his aim. A touch came on his elbow and he looked up. It was Lola. Her face was powdered with desert dust but her eyes were bright and her parted lips were crimson.
"Why didn't you stay in the cave?" he asked.
"I thought," she answered, "you might be glad to have me out here. Peggy is crazy to tell all about it and so she wouldn't have to wait until you came I offered to split the information with you."
"You seemed to have dropped from the skies," said Stone. "I'll leave thanks for afterward. You said you came to warn us and ran the gauntlet of the same trap. It was very brave of you."
"I haven't forgotten the fight at Castro's," she said. Their eyes met for a moment and not all the gray ash of the mesa could hide the flush that mounted in her cheeks. "I got your postcard," she went on, half shyly. "This is the answer. I told you I suspected something between Healy and Castro. And that I would try and find out more. I wanted to write to you but I knew it would not reach you. Then I managed to get Peggy's letter. You haven't told her about what I was doing at Castro's. That was kind of you."
"It was splendid of you to do it. Go on."
"I would have got away before, but I was practically a prisoner at the Casa. Castro wouldn't pay me my money. I stole it at last when he was drunk one night and I got away. The driver of the auto—you remember?—helped me."
"Yes," said Stone. "I remember the auto." She flushed again then continued: "Padilla lost his job. You made a joke of him. But Castro expected to use him differently from the beginning, I am sure. Only he worked on his hatred against you. Padilla himself helped to give the thing away. Like all Mexicans, he had to boast. So he came to me and told me that he was going to kill the gringo who had come between him and me. Castro—" she hesitated—"Castro had a fancy for me. I had always held him off, but—I had to find out—to warn you—and so I let him think that I was not altogether indifferent."
She stopped and looked at him half pleadingly and Stone put his hand on top of hers. She let it stay there.
"I could always handle him when—when he tried to go too far. He used to get pretty drunk toward morning and I would make Pisco punches for him. They unlocked his tongue. I flattered his vanity and he has lots of it, for all his ugly fatness. Like Padilla, he loves to boast, but he is shrewder. But I thought I would never get it out of him. And all the time Padilla was on the way. It it had not been for the Apaches and Healy getting wounded I should have been too late. But I got it little by little until, at last, one night he began to brag. It seems he had been jealous—of you—and I had to get that out of his mind.
"He knew all about your trip from the first. He knew of the find of Dave Sims and Lem Burden and a partner of theirs years ago. He grubstaked both of them but they didn't come back."
Stone nodded, remembering Harvey's talk.
"Then he heard that this third man was up in Nevada. With his place he gets hold of lots of information of that kind. Healy was in his debt. So he sent Healy to look him up. He found him—of course you know all about that—and Healy kept in touch with Castro by letters and telegrams. Then they tried to work it so that Castro would get in on a sure thing with another grubstake and your friend Larkin won enough money to spoil that. And you whipped Padilla. So they planned to send Padilla after you to pick up a band of men of his own sort and wait near the headwaters of Tonto Creek until Healy, who would get in touch with them, should signal them in some way that you had discovered the Madre d'Oro. I think they were going to kill you and whoever was with you so as to have the mine for themselves. They knew you wouldn't share it with them any other way.
"Next morning Castro was sullen. He didn't remember what he had said but he knew the Piscos made him talk and he suspected me. So he took away all my clothes except the ones I wore in the dance hall and he had me watched and wouldn't give me any money. I was nearly crazy, for Padilla was on the way all the time. Castro got some telegrams, but he always destroyed them and he wouldn't tell me anything more. But I got word to the driver of the machine and he brought in some mail from me with Peggy's letter in it. Then I knew that you were safe for a little while. I watched my chance and got out, with the money I took from that fat pig when he was too drunk, to know it. One of the other girls got me some clothes. And I came on.
"I told Doctor Seward as much as I had to. He had taken a fancy to you, and to Larkin and Harvey, but he didn't like Healy. He said he would get some men together but it would take time to stir them up in Verde because he would have to make them believe the real danger of the thing and they were mostly ranchers and slow to act. But he let Peggy and me have two horses. I had a hard time to persuade him until he knew we were both Western girls and mountain-bred and knew how to take care of ourselves. I would have stolen them if I had to. So we came.
"We found your camp below above Stone Men Cañon and started this morning, way before dawn. But we had to wait until it was getting light before we could pick up your trail. The moon was below the mesa then. We saw the burro tracks just as dawn was breaking and started to follow them up the mesa. Then Padilla and his gang must have seen us from the opposite cliffs and they came after us. He recognized me and knew they had to stop us. You know the rest."
"I know that you are the pluckiest girl and the cleverest that I have ever dreamed of. And I have dreamed of you more than once, Lola."
"You mean it? After the dance hall?"
"That," he said, "is a very foolish question. Now it is my turn to talk."
Presently Larkin came along the ledge with Peggy Furniss. He coughed twice before they noticed him and turned to see him with his arm about Peggy's waist.
"'Arvey dozed off, very convenient," he said with a grin, "So Peggy and me 'ad a charnce to come to an hunderstanding. I hain't quite sure it's all true, myself, but Peggy sez it is. Seems to be catchin', but you 'ad the start of hus. Hanyfing doin'?"
"I'm hoping they'll stick around and get caught in a trap themselves when the posse shows up," answered Stone. "Except that I would like to pay my own respects to Healy and Padilla."
"Leave 'Ealy for me, won't yer? I hain't bin hable to think hup the right sort of wind-hup for 'im but I 'ope 'e'll git it. 'Ow about some grub? Peggy says the girls didn't 'ave much breakfast."
"I want to keep tab on the horses," said Stone. "I can cover their hollow from here. Poor devils, they'll have to go shy on food but I'll get some water down to them."
"Peggy and me'll get the water," said Larkin. "We wouldn't disturb you for the world. Better shift hover w'en the sun comes your w'y. And we'll git the grub. So long, I want to show Peggy the Mint."
Padilla and his men did not appear. Stone figured that Healy had gone around the butte and joined them. They were perfectly safe in their eyrie until dark. If the posse did not come before then they could easily guard the ladder by moonlight. But the band might manage to steal the horses and burros. The morning wore on with Harvey sleeping. Bye and bye Peggy and Larkin came back to announce the meal. Larkin had made a discovery.
"We went in through that bother hopening," he said. "The one to the left of where I crunched the skulls. And it's hopen to the sky. You could git up to the top of the butte, I fancy, far as I could tell wiv one torch. Better recharge 'em both, 'adn't we?"
Harvey still slumbered and the four of them picnicked on the ledge. Then Lola and Stone in turn explored the hollows of the butte and he showed her the gleaming wall, while the other pair watched on the ledge for the posse and developments.
"Only half of this belongs to us," he said. "The other half belongs to Lyman's daughter, Margaret."
"How's that?" she asked, breathlessly.
Stone explained to her, wondering at her excitement.
"But that's Peggy," she said.
"Peggy? Peggy Furniss?"
"Yes. Isn't it wonderful? Peggy is a usual nickname for Margaret, you know. She told me her story a long while ago. You see, Castro never happened to mention the name of the partner of the two men he grubstaked. Too cautious, I suppose. Peggy doesn't know, either, if Larkin hasn't happened to mention it. And she wouldn't talk about it with him even then, because—you don't suppose it will make any difference between her and Larkin do you—her mother having run away like that?"
"Of course not. Larkin isn't that sort of a man."
She snuggled up to him in the dark, for he had switched off his torch and the only light in the great cavern filtered through the rift where the moon had shone.
"But go on," said Stone. "About her name being Furniss?"
"Oh! Peggy told me all her story a long time ago. This man, Lowe—I didn't know your friend Lyman, but I think he ought not to have left Peggy's mother so much alone, she was so much younger than he was—this man Lowe deserted her very soon and it wasn't long before she died and Peggy had to make her own way. And her mother didn't want to take Lyman's name again, or Lowe's, so she took her maiden name—Furniss. You see? And now we can tell Peggy!"
"I heard Larkin dreaming aloud one night," said Stone. "About making a diamond ring out of this gold. How about giving a duplicate order?"
It was Harvey who interrupted her reply, which was lengthy but silent. He had come to the gallery above them and, from an intuitive delicacy, shut off his torch. Now his deep voice boomed through the dark.
"Hate to disturb ye, but them hawsses an' burros ought to be watered. Larkin said"
"Coming," answered Stone and switched on his light.
Twilight fell without a sign of the rescue party. The night grew bitterly cold and they collected what was left of the wood and made a fire in the entrance, sitting there in the moonlight. Harvey insisted on keeping watch on the ledge, though there seemed little fear of an attack in the brightness.
"I slep' off my headache," he declared. "This old head of mine is too tough to be damaged easy. Some say it's wood, but wait till I find them diamonds."
The girls sang together in a low voice. Bye and bye Larkin essayed a solo:
Ho, hisn't it nice to be 'oney-moonin',
'Oney-moonin', 'oney-moonin'?
Nuthin' ter do for a month or two
But spoon wiv your wedded wife.
"I don't like the rest of the song," he broke of. "Sort of sarcastic."
Peggy had been told that she was an heiress and Larkin reassured her as to any doubts she may have had as to his feeling for her. The rest of the world seemed very far away and not to matter much.
"They're slow in Verde," said Stone. "I'm afraid they won't come till morning. I hope we can save your horses and our good old burros."
A shot rang out, with a sharp slash of red from the top of the mesa ringing down the chute. Harvey dropped on one knee, raised his rifle, and returned the fire. "Are you hit?" asked Stone, anxiously.
"No, dern 'em! They clumb up the way Healy noticed. We've got an account to settle with that skunk! Bullet hit the rock. I'm comin' in."
He made quick dashes from jut to jut while two more shots were fired, but he reached the cave unscathed. Then there was silence.
"Strike me pink!" cried Larkin. "There's that w'y up to the top! We can sneak up there and tyke 'em in the rear. Shoot 'em off the bloomin' rock. Come on. Revolvers 'll do it."
Stone looked at the girls but they did not dissuade them. The cowardly attack on Harvey had warmed their blood to resentment and they were confident of their men.
"Sounds like a good scheme," said Stone. "That posse may not show up. Come on, Larkin. Harvey can keep watch here with the girls."
Lola demurred but he insisted, and she surrendered.
There was the sound of kisses in the dark of the tunnel. Then Larkin led the way to the place he had discovered. Using their torches carefully, they made out the remains of timbers projecting from the wall and, here and there, the section of a ladder. The wood was seasoned by the ages but still fairly sound. They crept up, making hardly any noise.
"Another entrance," said Stone; "or an exit."
They crept up, silently, until they were close to the top. Then a bit of wood snapped under Larkin's weight and fell softly, after the first crack, landing in dust below. Carefully they peered over the rim and saw nothing but the almost level surface of the top of the butte with some dark splotches here and there.
"'Eard hus, damn it!" whispered Larkin with his lips close to Stone's ear. "And sneaked. Mebbe we can git a pot at 'em goin' down or see w'ot they're up to."
They emerged on the summit. The dark blotches proved to be potholes worn into deep pits by sand-whirls in the eroded surface. One of these had been deepened for the way they had come. They moved over toward the edge. Then two shadows lifted from the holes and two shots blazed.
Stone felt the wind of the bullet pass his face as he leaped for his man, who sprang out of his concealment. Back of him Larkin fired and jumped fairly on top of his man, as Stone's opponent fired again, in the same second with Stone. A red-hot iron seemed to pass by Stone's shoulder, close to his neck, and then he grappled. His own shot had missed in the rush of the encounter.
"Ha, Gringo! Thees time I keel you!"
It was Padilla, and Stone's forces surged within him as he wrestled fiercely with the Mexican. Padilla's bull strength got the first advantage. The man was like an enormous eel. He twisted and sank his teeth into Stone's wrist forcing him to drop the gun which he was trying to use as a club. Then Padilla dropped his own weapon and, though his arm was forced down by his side, managed to wriggle and get out a knife. Stone caught the blue gleam of the steel in the moonlight and, with a sudden burst of energy, forced Padilla's arm backward and upward toward the small of his back. The Mexican cursed and struggled but the knife fell tinkling into one of the holes near whose edge they swayed perilously. The blood was flowing from Stone's shoulder and he put forth all his efforts, thinking he might weaken from the loss of it. Once Padilla swept him from his feet but he regained them and they neared the edge of the butte.
Padilla broke Stone's hold and his hands fastened about Stone's throat, closing down like clamps, shutting off his wind. Stone tore them free and punched short and hard, driving in to Padilla's belly, with a recollection of the fight at Castro's and Larkin's admonition. Padilla staggered back, his face awful under the bright moon as he stepped into space, clutched at nothing, and fell over the sheer edge.
Stone turned, panting, to recover his gun and saw Larkin grinning at him.
"Just got in at the finish," he said. "You was doin' nicely, so I didn't hinterfere. You was too close to the hedge, for one thing."
"Kill your man?" asked Stone.
Larkin jerked his head toward a pothole.
"Strangled 'im, the dirty greaser. I told you I was a two-'anded cove. Oo was yours? Padilla?"
Stone nodded. He hadn't much breath to spare.
"Serves 'im bloody well right," said Larkin. "Now there's Mister 'Ealy to hattend to. Hafter dooty comes pleasure. Let's go down to the ladies."