Part 4 (2/2)
”Yes, that is not such a comfortable idea.”
”Well, lads, what do you make of it?” Dave shouted to them as they approached the bottom.
”We have been right up to the top; the ponies could go anywhere. It is narrow in places, but we have pa.s.sed many worse on the way; the cliffs never close up, so even at the worst places there is room for them to get along with their loads.”
”What is it like at the top?”
”Level ground along to the drop of the cliffs, hills behind it to the south.”
”Well, it is a comfort there is a way down into the valley. 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. 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?”
”See if we can get water, Dave. If we were shut up here without water they would have us in twelve hours, so we have got to get enough for ourselves and the horses to drink if we can, even if we have to fetch up what we want for the gravel. When we have got water, the next job will be to make a cradle; there are plenty of trees here, and we have got our hatchets, and we have brought the zinc screens, so we have got everything we want. I don't say we mightn't pick up a lot in nuggets.
Still, I have got a dozen already, making, I should say, over an ounce between them. Still, the others is the real thing to depend on.”
”And there is another thing, Dave,” Zeke put in; ”we must have a watch.
We had intended that, but we thought we should have only one place to watch; now we have found this track up the hill we have two.”
”That is so, Dave, though it is pretty hard on us having two out of five idle. Still, we have got a lesson there,” Boston said, pointing to the spot where they had found the skeletons.
”Aye, aye, it has got to be done,” Dave said. ”Well, lads, will you take the watch to-day, one above and one at the mouth, and we will set to work at the water hole?”
”We will toss up which goes up the hill again, d.i.c.k. You spin. Heads; tails it is.”
”Then I will choose the mouth here. You go up to the mouth's head.”
”Don't you be walking about when you get to the top,” Dave said. ”Find some place where you can get a clear view all round, and then lie down.
Choose a bit of shade, if you can find it. When we knock off work and have had a bit of grub, I will come up and take your place.”
It was just getting dusk when Dave came up and relieved d.i.c.k.
”Are you going to stay here all night, d.i.c.k?”
”Yes, we have agreed I shall keep watch here to-night, Boston to-morrow night, and then I go on again. Zeke will take the watch below regular; he sleeps like a dog, and the least noise in the world will wake him, so he will do very well. Can you make out the Indian village across there from here?”
”Yes, quite plainly.”
”You have not been using your gla.s.s, I hope,” Dave said in alarm.
”No, I forgot to bring it up with me. But why shouldn't I?”
<script>