Chapter VIII: Starting for Gold Fork

"By hokey!" Jerry ejaculated, mightily interested in the age-stained paper. "Sure I've seen thet thar figgerin', 'fore now! Yep! It seems like I kin' 'member ole Josh Kinney bottlin' the paper up wid a big grin an' askin' how it looked fur a drawin' prize. I done tole him it seemed to me a hen went an' crawled acrost the paper wid muddy feet!"

It certainly did look a bit that way, as Frank and Lanky were forced to admit. They studied their find for a few minutes; then Lanky rubbed his nose and went on to remark sarcastically:

"And, say, that same hen must have been some loco, to make such a bunch of crooked tracks."

"Well, it must be some sort of chart, or map," suggested Paul.

"I take it that's right," Frank observed, nodding his head. "Perhaps you might call it a supplementary one to the first we found."

"Now you're shouting, Frank!" snapped Lanky eagerly. "We know that other was mostly about the route to the place where Kinney pulled out his nuggets. All right! Then this tells in some Greek way that he undersold, but is a mystery to us, how to walk up and help yourself at the feed-trough, after you get inside the cave."

"About ah I can make out of it," said Mr. Wallace, "is that there seems to be a five-fingered cave, and the stuff is located in the central zone."

"Well, that's something of a clue, anyhow," Lanky decided. "Besides when we get to studying these queer marks closer maybe we'll run across some sort of key that'll make it all plain as print."

Frank noticed that Minnie was leaning out of the window of the small room she occupied, clad in a pretty and becoming kimono. She seemed to be drinking in every word that was being uttered.

"Chances are," Frank told himself shrewdly, "Minnie will beg like everything to go along with us. But of course that would be out of the question! There'll be all kinds of danger afoot. Besides, I don't think it's the trip for a girl to take, good pal as Min is."

Since the enemy had been chased off, and, besides, what he sought to secure possession of was already safe in their keeping, Mr. Wallace decided it was useless to cheat themselves any longer of their sleep.

As the boys had been chiefly instrumental in getting hold of this second chart, buried in such a peculiar fashion by the old pioneer, just as had been the case with the other, he asked Frank to keep it safely.

"We'll have plenty of time to pore over them both between now and our start, as well as while on the trails," he told them, before going back to his sleeping room.

"How soon can we get a move on, Dad?" asked Lanky eagerly. "Gee whiz! I'm all cluttered up with thinking about that trip and what strange things we'll be apt to see in the mountain regions."

"Not many days more, son," was all the reply his father gave, and with this Lanky had to rest content; though as time passed he would likely grumble more or less and show signs of ever growing restlessness.

There was no further alarm that night, nor on the succeeding nights. It seemed as though the activity of the Rockspur crowd had entirely broken up any plans the conspirators may have formed, and a change of base became necessary on their part.

"Huh! bet you a cookey they've set out for Gold Fork ahead of us, and we'll find the whole shooting-match camped on the ground when we get there," Lanky said to Frank on the third day after the night disturbance.

"What's the odds if they are?" his chum demanded, unmoved by all this display of feverish anxiety on Lanky's part. "They are no more apt to find the location of Kinney's claim than those hundreds of miners were in the old days, when Gold Fork was a bustling camp and men digging like wild-fire in the hope of striking a bonanza deposit of nuggets."

"Reckon that's so, Frank," Lanky acknowledged, won over by the coolness and good judgment of his chum. "If we're going to have trouble getting our paws on that cache of nuggets with both maps to set us on the right track, why, those four-flushers haven't even a look-in."

"Well, I've got a little news for you, Lanky, that ought to fetch a grin to your face. Your father told me not ten minutes ago that it's all settled."

"Meaning when we start for Gold Forge? Is that the racket, Frank?"

"To-morrow will be Sunday. We say good-by to Rockspur for a little while on next Tuesday morning!"

Lanky's face lighted up with joy. He threw his hat into the air and gave a whoop that would have shamed almost any reckless, care-free puncher.

"That's bully news, Frank Allen!" he burst out. "When dad saps a thing he sticks to it like a leech. My stuff is all packed, and I've even knocked off nearly half I laid out in the start to pack along. Dad told me we'd have to go light, as only one pack horse would be taken."

Great excitement followed, particularly among the younger element at Rockspur Ranch. Minnie hovered around and listened to everything the boys said. She examined the two crude maps several times, as though they held a strong fascination for her.

Frank often shook his head as he noted these things.

"She certainly does want to be one of the bunch, all right!" he told himself. "I'm dead sure Mr. Wallace will never consent, although his wife would let Minnie do anything she liked, she's so easy going, and thinks such a courageous girl could always take care of herself. But while I'm sorry to see her disappointed, I don't think she ought to go on what may turn out to be a fighting trip."

Of course the party would ride, and the ponies of the three boys were carefully groomed, also allowed to rest as much as possible, so they might be in the best of condition when the time arrived for the start.

It was not to be a large party, just old Jerry Brime, Zander Forbes, and Mr. Wallace, besides the trio of boys, with a pack animal to carry such stores and necessities as they must take along in order to insure a fair degree of comfort.

They had secured all the information possible from Jerry, as well as any of the other punchers who had by chance set eyes on the deserted mining camp in the mountains or knew something about the route hither.

To the best of their understanding, the boys figured they would have to ride something like forty miles toward the southwest, then change to face the setting sun. After going, possibly, for several days, in the end they would reach the foothills along the base of the mighty Rocky Mountains.

It gave them many a thrill, just the picturing in their minds of the new and wonderful sights that in all probability awaited them, while making their way to their intended destination.

"Wonder if well see any antelopes or mebbe a stray buffalo," Lanky said to Paul, as they discussed things on Monday morning--the probable state of the weather for the great day, now close at hand, how they would stand the long gallop in the hot sun, whether those persistent enemies who had pestered them so long would be lying in wait with other evil designs in view, and kindred topics, of which there seemed to be legions cropping up.

"Somehow," Paul returned, with a note of yearning in his voice, "I've been telling myself that I might have the ambition of my life granted before we left the Rockies."

"Now what could that be, I wonder?" quizzed Lanky.

"Set eyes on a real Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep," explained the other, with a little laugh. "Sounds queer, I know, Lanky, but I've never forgotten one I saw in a zoo, and it's haunted me ever since--those big curving horns on which they say it often alights when bounding from a cliff to a plateau thirty feet lower down. I've even dreamed of seeing that marvellous stunt."

Lanky rubbed the tip of his nose reflectively.

"I never thought of seeing a genuine bighorn in its native haunts, Paul. But if only I could have the glory of knocking a rousing big chap off his perch and getting a pair of horns to take back to Columbia as a trophy! Shucks I wouldn't mind going to some trouble over _such_ a job!"

That was the difference between Lanky and Paul. Paul seemed satisfied just to see and admire objects in Nature's vast domain; but Lanky, having the hunter instinct developed in his nature, thought only of possession--the monster bass swimming in the shallow water of the lake did not interest him one-tenth as much as when it was leaping at the end of his line and giving him a succession of thrills in a frantic endeavor to escape.

Tuesday morning dawned with a dear sky. It promised to be a hot day, as all the weather sharps could easily predict; but then such a minor detail did not bother any of the members of the expedition a particle.

The boys were keyed up to a high tension, and ready--as Lanky put it, "to buck up against any old thing that might come along, from cyclones and waterspouts to attacks from hostile men who might take them for government agents spying on boot-legger operations."

Every soul on the ranch from Charlie Gin Sing to Mrs. Wallace was on the spot to wish them a safe and prosperous journey. Minnie hovered around and smiled in a way that puzzled Frank.

"Now I wonder what kind of a bee that girl has got working in her brain?" Frank said to himself more than once. Somehow, it made him a bit uneasy. "I hope she hasn't the feast idea of trying to follow us! That would be the maddest of pranks."

The good-byes were said, and the little cavalcade rode bravely off, those in the saddle turning to send back last words to those left behind, and particularly Minnie and Mrs. Wallace.

The cowboys who were to stay at home and perform the regular routine of ranch duties accompanied the party for several miles; then at a sign from Lige Smith they gave a parting yell and turned back.

At last the treasure seekers were off in good shape, with all sorts of possible adventures lying ahead in the unknown lands they must traverse. Frank, however, could not keep Minnie's queer manner from filling his thoughts as he rode on his way.