C. Little

“ The Indian was shaking all over with suppressed laughter, as he cut the cords which held Dick a prisoner.
“Good for you, doctor!” cried Dick, springing up. “What have you been doing; killing old P. D.?”
“Not at all. That one is dead and it is only a fragment,” replied the Indian. He seized the dangling head and pulled and two or three yards of neck came whipping over the rocks and that was all there was to old P. D.
It was all dried up and looked decidedly aged.
“I ran this stick in under the jaw and just shook the head at him,” chuckled Doctor Dan. ”

“ The mare led the way into the pass through which Dick had come, continuing along about half the distance to the trail up the mountain, when she suddenly turned and stopped short up against the solid ledge.
“Well!” exclaimed Doctor Dan, “this is queer!”
The place into which the mare had turned was a sort of niche in the rocky wall, crescent shaped and perhaps forty feet deep.
There was no break anywhere and the rocks towered to a height of several hundred feet above their heads.
“What’s the matter with the beast? What does she stop here for?” demanded Dick. ”

“ When he came to himself again Tony had him by the collar and was lifting him up, while three tough-looking specimens stood around ready to help.
The Boiling Pot had stopped boiling now and Charley was nowhere to be seen.
“Say, Dick Darrell, brace up! Pull yourself together!” cried Tony. “Where’s Mudd and the gal?”
“Find out,” panted Dick. “I’m not telling. What have you done with my friend?”
“Oh, he’s gone back in the cave all right, I reckon,” chuckled Tony. “You’re a slick fighter, you are. See the black eye you have given my friend here? Never mind, though, you’ll be paid up for this.” ”

“ Where are your friends, Master Charles Nicholson and Miss Clara Eglinton, just at the present time?”
“Find out,” retorted Dick. “I shall tell you nothing, Mr. Mudd; so you may as well hold your tongue.”
“Civil, upon my word,” sneered Mudd. “Did you ever hear such gentlemanly language, Tony? Ha! Ha! It takes these young Washington sprigs to come out here in the wild and woolly West and show us how to do it. ”

“ I wouldn’t wonder a bit, Charley, if Doctor Dan was right after all and that horse did lead us to the very spot where Clara was blindfolded. It was just such a place as she describes.”
“Must we go back there,” said Clara. “I’d rather do almost anything else. You can’t imagine how I dread being captured by those men again and you know what Mudd has been to you, Dick.”
“I don’t, but I wish I did,” replied Dick. “I can’t make the man out at all. In one breath he threatens to kill me and in the next he is talking about making me a millionaire. ”

“ He had almost gained the door when, to his astonishment, he suddenly heard his name shouted from off on the lake.
“Dick! Dick!”
Dick turned and faced the monster, and, looking over and beyond him, saw Charley paddling the rubber canoe for all he was worth.
“Hello, Dick! What in thunder are you doing there?” yelled Charley. “Look on the shore! Don’t you see?”
Bang! Bang!
At the same instant two rifle shots rang out in quick succession and Dick saw Doctor Dan running along the shore toward the monster. ”

“ Dick’s revolver had been taken from him by Martin Mudd. Charley had lost his coming down through the Boiling Pot. Dr. Dan himself was the only man who was armed.
“Work yourself out! I did!” yelled Dick. “Can’t fire! Got no revolver! I won’t desert you, though! I’ll follow on!”
The Plesiosaurus had now disappeared down the trail.
It went sliding down over the slippery rocks, and now the boys were able to understand what made it so smooth. Probably this had been the monster’s path for years.
“Oh, it’s terrible! Terrible!” cried Clara. “Oh, Dick! Can nothing be done to save that man?” ”

“ Come on to the hut. This is no joke, Dick Darrell. You have been wronged out of a large fortune and I know it. I could name the man who did it if I chose and I have a great mind to do it, too.”
As he spoke Martin Mudd shot a malignant look at Clara, which Dick did not at all understand just then.
“Name him,” he said. “Speak out. I mean business; show that you do, too.”
They were walking along through the canyon at the time and Mudd kept on for some moments in silence. ”

“ You have saved my life! But poor Charley is a goner!” gasped Dick. “Come—come!”
A horse was pounding furiously down the trail.
“Let’s hope for the best,” replied Doctor Dan. “You thought I was gone, but I was only winded from the terrible pressure of that brute. I knew when you bent over me, Dick, but I couldn’t speak, and—hello! Here’s another one of them. Hold on there! Hold on!”
It was Tony. Down the trail he came dashing furiously.
“Hold up!” he cried. “Don’t shoot. I saw Mudd go down from the heights above here. I’m out of it. There’s a big force coming from the Gold Queen!” ”

“ That horse out there is certainly the one she rode,” replied Dick, and the horrible fear seized him that Martin Mudd might have made way with Clara on the road up to the lake.
They searched in all directions, shouting Miss Eglinton’s name, but all to no purpose.
Then they returned to the hut and began discussing the new monster, as a matter of course.
“In some respects it resembles the Ichthyosaurus,” said Dick, “but still its short legs don’t fill the bill at all in that direction. It is probably entirely unknown to science.” ”

“ Ha! Ha! Ha! Where is Charley, Dick? What in the world have you been about to let those fellows capture you? Oh, don’t be afraid of them. They are all dead drunk and asleep in the hut there but that man and he is such a coward that—ha—here he comes now.”
Mudd stepped out of the hut at that moment.
His jaw dropped when he saw Dick free and Doctor Dan with him.
Evidently Martin Mudd believed in the old adage that “he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day,” for he ran off up the lake shore as fast as his condition would allow. ”

“ I know. Thought you would find that big prehistoric monster Ike Izard claimed to have seen. Ha! Ha! What fools your scientists are.”
“Not quite so big fools as you may think,” replied Dick. “I’ve seen that same monster all right.”
“Rats! Rubbish! Come on to the hut. We’ll talk this thing over. I—merciful mother of Moses! Look there!”
Suddenly the water of Izard Lake, close to where they stood, began to boil in the same old fashion, and all at once a huge head, shaped like a crocodile’s, was thrust [21] out.
It was not the Plesiosaurus at all, but a monster of an entirely different sort. ”

“ High mountains rose in the far distance. Doctor Dan informed the boys that they skirted the edge of the Bad Lands.
When night came on a halt was made and Doctor Dan put up the tents in the most expert manner, hobbling the horses and cooking a splendid supper of antelope steak and a sort of cornbread, which he rolled out on a flat stone and cooked in round balls among the hot ashes.
After supper the boys rolled themselves up in their blankets and slept comfortably until morning, Doctor Dan going on guard. ”

“ Dick waited patiently for fully fifteen minutes, after which the professor folded up his letter and motioned to him to draw up a chair.
“Dick,” he said, “we want you for another expedition. You did so well down among the fossil beds of South Carolina that we are disposed to try you again.”
“Thank you, sir,” replied Dick. “I always try to do my best. What is it to be this time?” ”

“ Clara turned red and pale again as she took Dick’s arm.
“Doctor Dan,” she said, very quietly, “I know my father is a hard man. I can only say that I am sorry that—that——”
“Say nothing,” broke in Doctor Dan. “I am an Indian, but I bear no malice toward you, miss. As for your father——”
“Don’t doctor! Please don’t for my sake!” pleaded Dick.
“Well, I’d do a good deal for your sake, young fellow,” said Doctor Dan. “I’m dumb. Come on. We want to get away from here.”
“Not without old P. D.’s head,” said Dick. “It is most valuable to me. I shall ship it to Washington at the earliest opportunity. ”

“ He’s a mining prospector. If you should happen to meet him I advise you strongly to give him the cold shoulder. He’s a bad lot.”
“Is he crazy?” asked Dick.
“Not he!” exclaimed the clerk. “He’s a big liar, though, and a thief from way back, but he’s well educated and can talk almost as well as Doctor Dan.”
“What about Doctor Dan?” asked Charley. “Is he all right?”
“Yes, you can bank on him every time, even if he is an Indian. Queer feller, isn’t he? They say he’s got a lot of education, but an Injun’s an Injun wherever you strike him, that’s sure.” ”

“ Dan.
“I wish I had either one of those monsters in a tank in New York or Chicago and could charge ten cents a head to show them,” cried Charley. “I shouldn’t want any better fortune than that.”
“They can never be taken alive,” said Dick, decidedly. “It is the merest nonsense to think of such a thing. ”

“ Clara Eglinton, terribly frightened, urged her horse on up the hill.
“Don’t kill him! Hold him till I come back, Tony!” shouted Mudd, starting up the trail after the horse.
“Yes, hold me if you can get me!” cried Dick, whipping out his revolver. “Now, then, slope, you scoundrels! Slope or I’ll make short work of you both.”
The men dodged back.
Bill Struthers vaulted upon his horse and clashed away up the trail.
“Cowards!” snarled Tony, throwing up his hands. “I surrender, young feller. They [19] have both deserted me. I’m not going to do this act alone.” ”

“ Dick let another stone fly and with such good effect that it struck the Plesiosaurus square on the back.
Immediately the monster threw up its head and the water began to boil.
Up came the long neck and the head was thrust angrily out of the pool.
Doctor Dan, with a peculiar cry, flung his huge lasso and it dropped down over the monster’s head.
“Pull! Pull!” shouted the Indian. “We have got him if we can only hold him!”
Dick and Charley were at the other end of the rope and they pulled with all their strength, old P. D. giving out his frightful cry as the rope tightened about his neck. ”

“ He pulled off his shoes and stockings, rolled up his trousers and waded across, but Charley plunged right in and crossed, for he could not have been wetter than he already was.
“I can carry you across, miss, if you will let me,” called Doctor Dan, as he started back. “Don’t be afraid of me. I won’t hurt you even if I am an Indian and your father is my enemy.”
“Go, Clara. It will please him,” whispered Dick. ”

“ Tony ran on and by the time Dick reached the hut Martin Mudd came out to meet him, with Tony by his side.
“Yes, that’s the right boy,” he said, glancing at Dick. “I knew you wouldn’t desert me, Tony. I shan’t forget this.”
“Well, you see I fell in with these here friends of mine,” said Tony. “Old cow punchers, every one on ’em. I was going down to Node Ranch for help, but thought I might as well come back and help you out when I met them.” ”

“ At all events, great masses of rock had fallen down upon the trail, rendering it entirely impassable, and when they tried to get up to Izard Lake by way of the cavern the same state of affairs was found to exist there.
Even the Gold Queen’s trail was cut off and from that day to this no one has ever been able to reach Izard Lake, and access to the mine is had by another way.
Doctor Dan is still working on the problem, and some day he may find a way. When he does the world will doubtless be astonished to find that the prehistoric monster known as the Plesiosaurus still exists. ”

“ No trouble about the Boiling Pot once you know how to handle yourself in it. Hello, doctor. How in the world did you get over this side of the lake? Oh, Dick, I’ve got such news to tell!”
Charley was so excited that he could hardly wait until Dick had told what happened at the hut, although he insisted upon hearing it all before he would explain.
“We have got to look sharp or that scoundrel Mudd will finish us up sooner or later,” he exclaimed. “Now, then, Dick, what do you suppose I have found?”
“Give it up, but I wish you would tell,” replied Dick. “Out with it! We are all dying to hear.” ”

“ Even the Indians avoid these dreary wastes. For a hundred miles east and twice as much west Doctor Dan had told him that there was not a ranch or a house of any kind and it was just as bad if he went north, as he seemed to be going now.
“If it wasn’t for Miss Eglinton I would go straight down the mountain and try to get back to camp by the trail we followed,” thought Dick, “yet I can’t run away and leave the poor girl in the hands of those scoundrels. What in the world shall I do, anyhow? ”

“ Each man had his rifle lying across his knees; they were silent and motionless, but Dick saw that they were ready for business just the same.
“Now, what do you think of that?” demanded Mudd. “Am I up and dressed or am I asleep? Answer me that, boy.”
“Oh, what’s the use bothering to answer you?” retorted Dick. “You have got the big end of the stick, that’s all there is about it—go ahead.”
“Very well, then,” said Mudd, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Dick Darrell, listen to me. You are the true owner of the Gold Queen mine. ”

“ He wanted to make poor Clara feel bad, that’s all. To-morrow, just as soon as it is light, we must all start down the mountain and get around to the other side of the lake. Doctor Dan shall decide whether we go back to Node Ranch with our prisoner or not, but I think it’s the best thing we can do.”
“Suppose we build a big fire and let the Doctor know we are here?” suggested Charley.
“Yes, and let that scoundrel Tony know, too, and perhaps half a dozen others. No, thank you. I don’t care about that. We’ll let well enough alone.” ”

“ The effect was to break up Dick’s little session with that eccentric individual on the instant, for Mudd gave a wild yell of terror, took to his heels and ran toward the hut, leaving Dick to shift for himself. ”

“ We have just got to take our chances. When I’m out on an expedition like this I don’t believe in showing the white feather. It isn’t my style nor yours, either, Dick.”
“If it was mine you bet I wouldn’t be here,” said Dick, “but the danger is real just the same.”
Charley paddled on until at last they reached the other side of the lake and [26] pulled up their boat on the shore close to the hut.
It still wore the same air of desertion. Dick had left the door partly open and had placed a small pebble on top of it in such a manner that if the door was touched the stone would be sure to fall. ”

“ It will take us three days to reach the foot of the mountain. If you are anxious to get to work, as I take it you are, there is no time to lose.”
“I certainly am,” said Dick, “so we will go at once. Charley and I will be ready say at one o’clock.”
“At one o’clock,” repeated Doctor Dan, solemnly. “That is an engagement. I will keep it. Good day.”
“What about the monster?” asked Dick. “You saw it, I believe.”
“I did. It is there,” replied Doctor Dan.
“Can you describe it?”
Doctor Dan entered into a most accurate description of the Plesiosaurus. ”