G. Harvey Ralphson

“ THE FRANCISCAN MISSION
“Now, I wonder,” Jimmie mused as he was forced along by the two half-breeds, “whether I won’t get a chance before long to show these ginks how fast I can run. I sure could do something of a stunt on my feet if I had an opportunity right now.”
During one of the brief breathing spells, when the half-breeds paused for an instant on a level ledge of rock, the boy turned to the east and faced the pines in the vicinity of which he had been captured. In the distance he could see the granite finger sticking up like a mile-post in the green of the trees. ”

“ Jack laughed. “Every time we go out for a vacation, we get mixed up in a scrap of some kind.”
“Well,” Frank suggested, “we have all the more fun because of the trouble we get into. I like to be doing things.”
“But how are we going to get a line on these people?” asked Jack.
“It seems to me that they’ve got in the first blow,” Harry declared. “If we only had Ned here, he could tell us exactly what to do.”
“We’ll have him here before night!” Jimmie answered.
“You ask how you are to get a line on the people you are to watch,” Gilroy said, “and I think I can tell you what you ought to do first. ”

“ Ned mused, as he drew his automatic revolver, “but I just naturally want that eagle in the Boy Scout club room in New York. The boys of the Eagle Patrol would greet him with an ovation which he will never receive while alive.”
When the eagle came nearer, the boy fired. The huge monarch of the air fell at the base of the cliff, shot through the heart.
“Now,” thought the boy, looking down in dismay, “how am I ever going to get him. It doesn’t seem to me that any human being can descend this precipice.” ”

“ Ned decided. “Unless the boy who gave the information is an accomplished liar, we ought to find our chums at the bottom of this wicked old precipice.”
Gilroy stood for a moment trembling on the edge of the cavern and then almost dropped back into Ned’s arms.
“We’ll never get down there, never!” he wailed. “We’ll drop off into space and never see the Great White Way again.”
“Go to it, partner!” grinned Jimmie, not a little disgusted at the lack of physical courage exhibited by the fat clerk. “Get your troubles all off your chest and then cheer up. The worst is yet to come!” ”

“ The boys talked in low tones for a moment before Harry referred to the arrival of Ned and Jimmie. The excitement over the possible pursuit was so great that even this most important event was overlooked!
“Suppose they follow us up here!” Jack said in a breath. “We haven’t got any more guns than a rabbit!”
“Ned and Jimmie have guns,” Harry replied.
“Ned and Jimmie?” repeated both boys.
“Sure!” answered Harry. “You scared me so with your talk of mountain gnomes that I forgot to tell you that Ned and Jimmie came into the pit by way of a hempen elevator.”
“Where are they now?” asked Frank. ”

“ The two columns of smoke ascended straight into the sky for perhaps ten minutes and then died down. Jimmie sat at the top of the rock and waited. The forest around him seemed alive with creeping and flying things, and sunshine filtered softly through the branches of the great pines. After a time he climbed to the top of a great tree and looked over the landscape.
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To the south and west he saw the faint column of smoke lifting from the campfire. To the north and west mountain peaks lifted above the range, many of them white with snow. ”

“ Boy Scouts as a rule,” he reasoned with himself, “are not supposed to take the life of any wild creatures for their own amusement or benefit. Still, I never saw anything about an eagle that looked very patriotic, or very much in touch with the softer side of animal life. The eagle, notwithstanding its prominence on the American dollar, is merely a bird of prey, eating its game alive and killing out of pure viciousness.”
The great bird finally left the crag and swung nearer and nearer to the place where Ned stood. The boy crouched down behind a boulder and watched it with no little interest. ”

“ Toombs demanded fiercely. “This is a deserted camp. The boys who occupied it yesterday are dead, drowned at the Devil’s Punch Bowl. Your son with the others. You have no one in the hills to whom you can appeal for aid. If you persist in your refusal to deliver the papers and the information, you shall share the same fate. Will you come quietly?”
There was a scuffle and a blow, and when Ned gained the interior of the cave, he saw Bosworth lying on the floor with the blood springing from a slight wound on the forehead. ”

“ IN QUEST OF INFORMATION
Left at the camp by the departure of Ned and Jimmie, Jack, Frank and Harry sat for a long time in the warm sunshine in front of the barrier and discussed the situation. Gilroy had tucked himself into a collection of blankets at the rear of the cave and was sound asleep.
“What do you think Jimmie had in his mind when he went away alone?” asked Harry. “He merely had some plan to carry out.”
“Oh, he’s always going off alone,” Jack answered.
“Some day he’ll go away alone and won’t be able to get back!” Frank put in. “He won’t always be able to get out of his scrapes.” ”

“ All four of the men seemed to be half-breeds, dirty and roughly clad. Ned felt a feeling of repulsion which would have been expressed by blows had his feet and hands been at liberty.
The climb up the mountain was a slow one, and one not at all pleasant to the boy as they insisted on carrying him feet foremost. At last, however, they came to a level shelf of fair size whereon a tent had been pitched. ”

“ Now I wish we could slide up over the spur that separates us from the side of the pool where Harry is,” Jack said.
“All we’ve got to do is to climb,” Frank answered. “I never saw any ledge of rock, or any body of water, or any trouble of any kind, that you could wish yourself over.” ”

“ Lying behind a boulder, the boy saw the Indian pointing down into the pit, and it seemed to him that he was directing the attention of his companion to the old channel where he, Jimmie, had met with such exciting adventures.
“It’s dollars to doughnuts,” the boy mused, “that that’s Sigma, the Indian, Norman referred to. If it is, he’s showing Toombs where the gold mine is. That’s just our luck, anyway!”
Foot by foot the boy passed from one rock to another until he came within sound of the men’s voices. ”

“ You don’t suppose members of the Black Bear Patrol, Boy Scouts of America, would do a cannibal stunt by eating black bear, do you? That wouldn’t be right.”
Jimmie McGraw of the Wolf Patrol, City of New York, and Frank Shaw, of the Black Bear Patrol, also of New York City, were broiling bear steak over a glowing bed of embers just below the timber line on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was early morning in September, and the sunshine lay like a mist of gold over the broken country. ”

“ You never earned an honest dollar in your life. There are murders which might be laid at your door. You have wrecked private fortunes, and are no more to be trusted than a deadly rattler!”
Ned chuckled at this arraignment of the man who had given him so much trouble. The conversation certainly was amusing to him.
“Hard words break no bones!” laughed Toombs. “Say what you please, only give me the information I demand. And I insist on something more than the information, too,” he went on. “I want your promise that the corporation you represent will quit-claim all these lands to me.” ”

“ Harry asked, pointing from breast to head.
Then Ned explained his plight and Gilroy shuddered in sympathy.
“On a narrow ledge,” he wailed, “hundreds of feet up in the air, a battle with two great birds like that! I’ve heard a great deal about the Pacific coast,” he went on, “and have long desired a trip like the present one, but I’ll tell you now that my infatuation for the west has vanished. Now I begin to understand,” he continued, “why we rarely see a very old man west of Denver.”
“What becomes of ’em?” asked Harry. ”

“ Ned said, after the greetings were over, “we’ve got to get Harry up the incline and out of the pit, so we may as well be at it.”
“According to Gilroy,” Harry smiled, “there’s a band of Bashi Bazooks up there ready to mix with you the minute you show your faces.”
“The killing of two of their number undoubtedly frightened them away,” Ned answered. “At any rate, the moon is rising now, and any danger which threatens may readily be detected. You must understand,” he went on, “that the outlaws who came to the Devil’s Punch Bowl expected to find you three boys lying dead at the bottom.” ”

“ In fact,” he went on, “he is fully as dead as the eagle on a counterfeit dollar!”
“Where did you get it?” asked Gilroy.
“I fought for it,” answered Ned.
“I know what’s the matter with Ned,” Harry exclaimed. “He hasn’t had anything to eat since noon, and he’s hungry. Never try to talk to a Boy Scout when he’s hungry,” he continued, “if you do, you’ll get saucy answers.”
“I’m hungry myself!” Gilroy declared.
“Well,” Harry answered. “You can get supper any old time you want to. I’d be glad to serve as chef tonight if it wasn’t for this bum old arm. ”

“ We may as well stay here and barricade this cave.”
“That’s a good idea!” Jimmie exclaimed. “All we’ve got to do is to roll a few large boulders down the slope and line them up at the entrance of the cavern. We’ll be as snug as bugs in a rug in behind them, and we have provisions enough to last us for a month.”
“Yes,” Harry submitted, “and we can lay behind the boulders and shoot outlaws and railroad mercenaries to our hearts’ content!”
“It’s dangerous, boys, it’s dangerous!” insisted Gilroy.
“Huh, we’re just beginning to enjoy ourselves, now that we have some object in life!” Jimmie insisted. ”

“ Jimmie mused. “The Indians are wise to the fact that his only purpose in sending Sigma in was to bunch those possessing information of the mine and drown them all like a lot of baby cats. What they’ll do to him now will be a plenty. I wouldn’t be in his shoes for a good deal.”
So busily was Toombs engaged in his work that he did not hear the smothered ejaculations or the soft footsteps of the Indian as he crept up behind him. It was evident that he believed the Indians to be all massed in the gold chamber. ”

“ Ned said, as they arose from a sumptuous camp dinner, “is to get off alone into the mountains. Mr. Bosworth seems inclined to go with you boys for a view of the flag on the cliff,” he went on, “and so I’ll leave you to your own amusement while I go and get acquainted with the mountains.”
“You would better come with us, and see what’s going on at the Devil’s Punch Bowl,” Jimmie advised.
“Somehow, ever since I’ve been here,” Ned went on with a smile, “I have lived in an atmosphere of excitement. ”

“ Ned demanded angrily, “why didn’t you come over to the camp? Why did you send your cut-throats over to tie me up like a pig for roasting?”
“Because,” Toombs answered, “you have the reputation in New York of being a very obstinate as well as a very clever lad. Because, again,” he went on, “I have no time to waste in preliminaries. I wanted you to understand from the word ‘Go’ just exactly what the situation is.”
“Well, what is it?” asked Ned.
“You came into the mountains with young Jack Bosworth?”
“Jack is a member of my party,” Ned answered.
“And you came on a mission for Jack’s father?” ”

“ While he listened another call—louder, longer, more insistent—came—the call of the pack! Jimmie almost danced in his excitement.
“The Wolf Patrol!” he shouted. “The good old Wolf Patrol!”
Throwing back his head he produced an excellent imitation of the challenge he had heard. It echoed through the forest singly for a moment and was then joined by the call which had attracted his attention.
“Mother of Moses!” the boy cried. “The people will think there’s a whole pack of timber wolves in the country.”
Advancing now through the thicket, the boy soon saw a motion in the underbrush not far away. ”

“ The Indian looked puzzled at the long words used, but nodded. It was evident that he understood the general import of the other’s talk.
“The men I represent,” Toombs went on, “would throw a few dirty dollars into my lap for information which would bring them millions. Now my idea is to get the gold out and get away with it.”
“Say, Toombs,” Jimmie whispered to himself behind the rock, “you’re a dirty old schemer!”
“With the gold in our possession, we can disappear from the country, you and I. We need never trouble ourselves about money any more.” ”

“ They’re out here to make trouble for Ned Nestor and his friends. I think you’ve done a mighty cute trick in helping them along with their work!”
“Say,” Norman answered, with a touch of irony in his voice, “you go away in some quiet spot and count yourself. When you get done you’ll find you aren’t so many. You needn’t think you’re the only boy that can get a job in the mountains.”
“Has Toombs captured any game yet?” asked Jimmie.
“I haven’t seen him do any hunting,” was the answer. “He and Huga just sit around in camp all day and send half-breed messengers scurrying around from place to place.” ”

“ Jack declared hopefully. “If I hurt you just give me a kick with your well hoof!”
That leg was all right, too. In a moment, Harry stirred one arm faintly and then lifted it to his face.
“And one arm’s all right, too!” almost shouted Frank. “Say, kid,” he continued, “how did you ever negotiate that tumble and not get broken into little pieces?”
Harry opened his eyes again and smiled faintly.
“I slid down most of the way,” he said. “My left arm is broken, and I’ve got a bump on my dome big enough to hide a cow in, but I guess that’s about all. How’s that for luck?” ”

“ Harry exclaimed, “but I vote for staying in the hills a month. If I can’t climb trees and send Boy Scout signals floating over the mountain tops,” he added with a laugh, “I can sit here and broil bear steaks and have all the fun in the world seeing you boys eating them. That will be fun enough for me!”
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“Besides,” he went on with an amusing grin, “I want to stay here long enough to make the personal acquaintance of that flag on the cliff—the flag of Spain, without any yellow in it, that stands for a billion of yellow metal not far away!”
“The flag on the cliff?” repeated Mr. Bosworth. ”

“ Gilroy put his hand to his pistol pocket and a look of pretended amazement came over his fat face.
“Upon my word!” he said, “I thought I left my gun in the bunk!”
“After this,” Ned advised, “always keep your gun in sight when you go into the forest. Suppose there had been no tree to climb, what then?”
“I should have grappled with him, sir!” exclaimed Gilroy. “I certainly should have grappled with him.”
“You would have had to catch him first,” Jimmie grinned.
“How long since you left the camp?” Ned asked, after Jimmie had introduced the two. ”

“ Ned laughed. “If you bump your head against a rock, or get dumped into a pool of water something like the one out there, you mustn’t blame me. Remember that I wanted to go.”
Jimmie approached the long incline, his electric pointing the way, and soon shouted back:
“This is all right! There’s a turn here, and the going is good. Come on in, you fellows. Mighty fine in here!” he went on.
Ned and Harry, the latter now fairly free from pain, made their way slowly to where Jimmie sat hunched up against the side of the wall. ”

“ You’ll have every robber and murderer in the mountain down on us!”
“And now it’s robbers and murderers, is it?” shrieked the clerk. “It was bears and panthers down in the cave. I saw a bear sneaking up to the provision box just as I left. He seemed to want to eat me!”
By this time Jimmie had joined the two, and now stood with a grin on his freckled face, rather enjoying the situation.
“And you chased off and left him chewing up our grub, did you?” he demanded. “What are we going to eat tomorrow?”
“Oh my! oh my!” wailed Gilroy. “I don’t believe there will ever be any tomorrow. ”

“ Jimmie made his way through the narrow entrance, found a searchlight, and turned a round circle of flame on a great heap of blankets in a back corner. There was no one in the cave at all save only himself.
Before returning to report to Ned, the hungry boy seized a plate of corn pones and a can of tinned beans from the provision chest.
“Look here, Ned,” he said in a moment, appearing before his chum with his mouth full of beans, “the appetite of our midnight visitor seems to be for confidential clerks as well as for bread. Someone has stolen Gilroy! Anyway, he’s not in the cave!” ”

“ At great risk of discovery, Ned seized the flashlight and pressed the spring. The illumination showed a moldy chamber with water dripping from the walls in places.
At some distant day the chamber had evidently been occupied by human beings, for a great fire-place was cut in the rock at one end, and there were niches in the wall which had doubtless been used for storage. The floor was smooth, showing the work of human hands.
“Get onto the fire-place!” whispered Jimmie. “Where do you suppose the smoke goes? There’s no chimney on the mountain.” ”