Charles Dudley Warner

“ Why sane people, often church-members respectably connected, will subject themselves to this sort of treatment,—be wet to the skin, bruised by the rocks, and flung about among the bushes and dead wood until the most necessary part of their apparel hangs in shreds,—is one of the delightful mysteries of these woods. I suspect that every man is at heart a roving animal, and likes, at intervals, to revert to the condition of the bear and the catamount.
There is no trail through Hunter’s Pass, which, as I have intimated, is the least frequented portion of this wilderness. ”

“ This charming society is nearly extinct now: of the larger animals there only remain the bear, who minds his own business more thoroughly than any person I know, and the deer, who would like to be friendly with men, but whose winning face and gentle ways are no protection from the savageness of man, and who is treated with the same unpitying destruction as the snarling catamount. ”

“ Large animals are not common in these woods now, and you seldom meet any thing fiercer than the timid deer and the gentle bear. But in days gone by Hunter’s Pass was the highway of the whole caravan of animals who were continually going backwards and forwards, in the aimless, roaming way that beasts have, between Mud Pond and the Boquet Basin. I think I can see now the procession of them between the heights of Dix and Nipple Top; the elk and the moose shambling along, cropping the twigs; the heavy bear lounging by with his exploring nose ”

“ How long these greedy Spaniards occupied the cave on Nipple Top is not known, nor how much silver they found, whether they found any, or whether they secretly took away all there was in the hills. That they discovered silver in considerable quantities is a fair inference from the length of their residence in this mountain, and the extreme care they took to guard their secret, and the mystery that enveloped all their movements. What they mined, they smelted in the cave and carried off with them. ”

“ When the climber occasionally loses sight of a leg in one of those treacherous holes, and feels a cold sensation in his foot, he learns that he has dipped into the sources of the Boquet, which emerges lower down into falls and rapids, and, recruited by creeping tributaries, goes brawling through the forest basin, and at last comes out an amiable and boat-bearing stream in the valley of Elizabeth Town. ”

“ The guide said then—and he mentioned it casually, in reply to our inquiries about ascending the mountain—that there was a cave high up among the precipices on the southeast side of Nipple Top. He scarcely volunteered the information, and with seeming reluctance gave us any particulars about it. I always admire this art by which the accomplished story-teller lets his listener drag the reluctant tale of the marvellous from him, and makes you in a manner responsible for its improbability. ”

“ Besides, how foolish for a man, if he were a really hardened and professional criminal, having established connections and a regular business, to run away from the governor’s pardon, which might have difficulty in finding him in the craggy bosom of Nipple Top!
This gang of men—there is some doubt whether they were accompanied by women—gave little evidence in their appearance of being escaped criminals or expectant kings. ”

“ But a Spaniard in the Adirondacks does seem misplaced. Well, there would be no romance about it if he were not misplaced. The Spaniard, anywhere out of Spain, has always been misplaced. What could draw him to this loggy and remote region? There are two substances that will draw a Spaniard from any distance as certainly as sugar will draw wasps,—gold and silver. Does the reader begin to see light? There was a rumor that silver existed in these mountains. I do not know where the rumor came from, but it is necessary to account for the Spaniards in the cave. ”

“ To my imagination nothing is more impressive than the presence in these savage wilds of these polished foreigners and accomplished metallurgists, far from the haunts of civilized man, leading a life of luxury and revelry in this almost inaccessible cavern. ”

“ I have read in history that the amiable natives of Hispaniola fared no better at the hands of the brutal Spaniards than the fierce and warlike Caribs. As society is at present constituted in Christian countries, I would rather for my own security be a cougar than a fawn. ”

“ There is a mound in the valley, much like a Tel in the country of Bashan beyond the Jordan, that may have been built by some prehistoric race, and may contain treasure and the seated figure of a preserved chieftain on his slow way to Paradise. ”

“ After a day of toil, what more natural, and what more probable for a Spaniard?
Does the reader think these inferences not warranted by the facts? He does not know the facts. It is true that our guide had never himself personally visited the cave, but he has always intended to hunt it up. His information in regard to it comes from his father, who was a mighty hunter and trapper. In one of his expeditions over Nipple Top, he chanced upon the cave. ”

“ I regretted that he had not treasured this slender verification of an interesting romance, but he said in those days he never paid much attention to such things. Lately he has turned the subject over, and is sorry that his father wore out the vest and did not bring away the chair. It is his steady purpose to find the cave some time when he has leisure, and capture the chair, if it has not tumbled to pieces. But about the crowbar? Oh! that is all right. The guide has the bar at his house in Keene Valley, and has always used it. ”