G. A. Henty

“ The redskins know well enough that it is gold the whites who come into their mountains are in search of, and I guess they know every place where it is to be found. A redskin always has his eyes open. A broken branch, a stone newly rolled down on a path, the ashes of a fire, the slightest thing that is new, he is sure to notice, and the glitter of gold, whether in a stream or in a vein, would be certain to catch his eye, and if this place is specially rich they are safe to know of it, and would keep some sort of watch to see that it is not found out by the whites. ”

“ Bob, forgetful of his sprain, lowered himself into her, and grasped the oars, while the captain followed.
"Hold hard!" shouted the mate.
Our hero impatiently, though he never for a moment expected to find his friend alive, complied.
In two minutes Leeks reappeared and let down a flask into the boat.
Our hero dashed the oars into the water, and the small boat moved faster over the heaving face of the ocean than she had ever done before.
"Don't deceive yourself. If it is your friend, he can't be alive," said the captain, as they approached the body of the ledge. ”

“ As soon as he, the captain, Bok, and one of the men were on deck, which sloped acutely, Bob called to the ladies to say that he would fetch a chair, or something to serve as one, and hoist them up.
To their surprise the companionway was not blocked with ice and the doorway was shut.
It opened easily, and our hero was the first to descend.
An extraordinary scene presented itself to his eyes directly they got accustomed to the gloom.
Seated at a table, some upright, others with their heads sunk in their folded arms, which rested on the table, were the shrunken bodies of a dozen or more men. ”

“ Still, if you like to go with us, you are welcome; but if the time comes when the redskins have got us shut up in some place we can never get out of alive, remember that you are there on your own choice, and that we had no hand in getting you into the scrape."
"We will never blame you, whatever comes of it, Dave. If the risk is not too great for you and your comrades, it is not too great for us. There is nothing in the world we should like so much as such an adventure." ”

“ The captain ascended the shrouds himself, halfway to the top.
"It's like a cauldron," he exclaimed on descending. "No ship, except perhaps a very powerful steam whaler, could live in it.
"There is only one chance for us," he continued. "We must get under shelter of this island."
As the south coast line opened, the helm was put down, and the vessel was hove to under a high cliff and jutting cape, which protected her from the rush of the ice-laden current. ”

“ Zeke said; "we had best do the same ourselves; the heel of boot would be as ugly a mark as a horseshoe. We must keep well along at the edge of these fallen rocks. Like enough they come down here to fetch water up to their village, and the further we keep away from the stream the better."
The moon was half full, which was fortunate, as they would otherwise have had great difficulty in finding the narrow gap in the cliff. Its light, too, enabled them to avoid rocks that had rolled out farther than the rest; once inside the gorge it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel their way along. ”

“ They had done no cooking for the last four days, as no fuel of any sort was to be obtained, and they lived upon the dried meat and a drink of flour and water. The banks of the stream were well wooded, and the animals, as soon as their thirst was quenched, fell to work upon the grass that grew knee-deep near its banks.
"We must do some cooking to-day," Dave said, "and a good batch of it; there is no saying when it will be safe to cook again. We must wait till night, and then light the fire in the thickest part of these trees, and fasten our blankets up round it to prevent its light being seen. ”

“ The miners came to the spot.
"You are right," Dave said; "it is a path, sure enough. Animals of some sort come up and down—bears, I should say; maybe goats, and lots of them, like enough; it is the only way they can get down from the top into the valley, and they come down to drink."
The ridge was wider than it looked, being, where it started, fully two feet across. The boys at once set off up it; as Dick had supposed, it met another ledge running along halfway up the face of the hill. ”

“ Two hundred yards along, another ascent was met with, and after half an hour's climbing they found themselves on a level plateau, from which they could see across to the three peaks. The path was everywhere worn smooth, showing that it had been used for ages by animals of some kind.
"One would almost think it had been cut by hand," Dick said; "who would have thought from below that there was such a way as this out of the valley? The best of it is, that it is good enough for the horses to get up as well as us. ”

“ Almost every country in the world has been studied to do service in this way, with the result that within the series of books which Mr. Henty has produced for the young we find such places dealt with as Carthage, Egypt, Jerusalem, Scotland, Spain, England, Afghanistan, Ashanti, Ireland, France, India, Gibraltar, Waterloo, Alexandria, Venice, Mexico, Canada, Virginia, and California. Doubtless what other countries remain untouched as yet are but so many fields to be attacked, and which every lad hopes to see conquered in the same masterly way in which the previous ones have been handled. ”

“ Captain Sumner himself hurried forward.
A rough, rocky island, the waves dashing in foam against its low cliffs, was discerned through the flying spray.
Already the edge of the eastern floe was crushing itself to pieces against the projecting reefs. ”

“ I will lend it you this evening."
"Oh, I don't want a pistol, Tom; there is no chance of my getting into a row."
"Oh, it is just as well to carry one, Dick, when you know that everyone else has got one about him somewhere, and a considerable number of them are drunk; it is just as well to take one. You know, it is small, and goes in my breast pocket."
"I will take my stick, the one I bought at San Francisco; it has got an ounce of lead in the knob. I would rather have that than a pistol any day." ”

“ Luckily the moon was still high and shot full down upon the path they were traveling. Even on foot the lads found it difficult to make their way down. Sometimes they had to climb over heaps of bowlders, sometimes to slide down smooth faces of rock so steep that they could not keep their feet upon them, and often it seemed so perilous that they would have hesitated to attempt it had they not seen that Dave with his two horses kept steadily on below them. ”

“ Boston Joe said. "We have the choice of either going up the Gila valley and mounting this side stream till we come upon something that agrees with these four marks, or of keeping along from the west by a valley about the right distance from the Gila."
"I should not think we can trust much to distances," Dick said; "this man was merely sketching out a plan to help him on his way up again, should he ever make up a party to return to the mine, and, though probably these bendings and turnings of the road are to be depended upon, the map itself cannot be done to any scale. ”

“ Bok also discharged his weapon, and, hit twice in the neck, the beast staggered back.
Bob now saw his friends, and, running up the stream, joined them.
With so many against him the bear tried to flee, but a second bullet from the captain's gun finished him.
"Oh, how thankful I am that you have come," cried Bob gratefully. "I thought I was a goner."
"Don't waste time here," exclaimed Captain Sumner. "These shots will alarm those people we left at the ice cave."
"That is true," said Bob. "Come on—we must rescue my father!"
And he led the way, with the captain at his side. ”

“ To prepare them for the ghastly sight, our hero told them and Jack what they would see.
Opening a door at the bulkhead, Captain Sumner, closely followed by the two lads and the others, stepped into a narrow passage, which had berths on each side.
Passing through a second door they came into a square room, in which was built a clay and stone fireplace.
The captain stopped short.
A fire smoldered on the hearth.
"Hullo!" cried the captain. "Someone still lives!"
"Yonder lies the body of a man!" exclaimed Viola, who had crept to Bob's side and taken his arm between her hands. ”

“ Anyhow, since you have been gone, we have been fossicking about, and there is no doubt about the gold; it is the richest place any of us have ever seed."
"Have you found water, Dave?"
"No, that is the one thing bad, we shall have to go out to fetch water, but maybe if we dig in the center of the channel we shall find it. The best place to try will be at the end, right under where the waterfall comes down in winter. There is most always a deep hole in the rock there, where the water and stones and so on have come down and pounded away the bed rock. We found where the gold comes from too. ”

“ When assisted to his feet it was evident that Bob had twisted his ankle, or slightly strained it.
"Misfortunes never come alone," he said, with a laugh. "We must get on.
If I find the descent difficult, you must help me."
A stream of water from the melting of the ice on the peak ran along in a little channel it had worn, to where it came to the ravine.
Here it fell over in a cascade, and divided, one part, now joined by other trickling streams, descended the gorge into the sea, the other flowing into the mouth of an ice cavern. ”

“ Two or three other ships which were, like the Northampton, engaged in shipping hides, lay near her. A sickening odor rose from the half-cured skins as they were swung up from boats alongside and lowered into the hold, and in spite of the sharp orders of the mates, the crew worked slowly and listlessly.
"This is awful, Tom," a lad of about sixteen, in the uniform of a midshipman, said to another of about the same age as, after the last boat had left the ship's sides, they leaned against the bulwarks ”

“ Dick looked on with some wonder at the quiet and deliberate manner in which Dave mixed his dough.
"By the way, Dick," the latter said, looking up, "we have divided that lot of gold we got here ourselves into five lots, and put one lot into the blankets on each of our riding horses; it is like enough that if we carry our own scalps back to the Settlements we shan't get any of the four baggage ponies there with us. There is about twelve pound of gold in each blanket, so suppose we have to let the other ponies go, we shan't have made a bad job out of our journey after all." ”

“ Two days after their arrival at Santa Fe they started.
"We will strike due south as if intending to enter Mexico; one never knows who is watching one," Dave said the evening before. "There are always some pretty hard men about these border towns—miners who are down on their luck; men who have had to run from the northern diggings, and such like. We may say what we like, but they will make a guess that we have located something rich, and are going back to work it quietly and keep it to ourselves, and like enough some of them will take it in their heads to follow us. ”

“ There is a big quartz vein running right up the face of the cliff there; it is just full of gold. You can see it sparkle everywhere. Some day, when the Indians is all wiped out, fellows will bring machinery and powder, and will have one of the richest mines in the world. However, that don't concern us. I reckon there is enough in this gravel under our feet to make a hundred men rich. Now, Boston, what do you think is the best thing to do first? ”

“ Jack sighed and opened his eyes.
"Let's get him on board the yacht at once," exclaimed the captain.
First, however, he passed his hand along each limb, and then felt Jack's ribs.
The patient winced at the last experiment and uttered a low cry.
"Legs and arms all right," muttered the captain, as he with our hero's help carried the boy to the small boat; "so, if a rib's broken, he must consider himself well out of a bad scrape."
Bob again pulled his hardest, and when alongside the yacht his comrade with some difficulty was got on board. ”

“ When they got two or three hundred yards further the three men ran up.
"One pony has gone, I see," Dave said.
"Yes; it is the gray. He had only seventy pounds, you know, so if one was to go it were best it should be him."
"Well, let us mount and be off, lads; like enough those Indians will have to ride forty or fifty miles to get round this canyon, and come here, but, anyhow, we may as well push on. It is lucky the horses have done well the last day or two, and that we have got our water-skins full." ”

“ We shall each take a horse, and a Mexican pony to carry our food and traps. If everything goes right and we find a bonanza, we can load them up on the way back. Twenty dollars will buy a pony here. Then you will want a critter each to ride. We are not going to get first-rate ones, for if the Indians come on us it is fighting that we shall have to do, not riding. Among those mountains no shod horse of the plains has a chance with those Indian ponies, which can climb like goats and go at a gallop along places where a horse from the plains wouldn't dare move. ”

“ Every man on board can come heavily armed. When these people see our number they may be willing to talk reasonably to us."
"That's so, but I hate to leave," returned Bob. "They may do some harm to my father in the meantime."
"Then I will go, Bob. But mind, keep shady, unless they do something very bad."
Bob promised, and without delay Captain Sumner started on the return to the Dart.
With a wildly beating heart Bob watched the people who held his father a captive.
They were marching along silently now and did not stop until the center of the cave of ice was reached. ”