The Mercer Boys on a Treasure Hunt

  CHAPTER XXI THE CAIRN

  Professor Scott, the captain, Don and Ned were all sitting around a firein the living room discussing the next move to be made. To their intensedisappointment they had not found the missing boys upon their return tothe ranch, nor had they come across a single trace on their homewardjourney. They had just decided that a more vigorous hunt must be startedin the morning when Yappi hastily entered the living room.

  "There is a large fire at the ranch of Senorita Mercedes, senor," heinformed Ned.

  The young man jumped to his feet in dismay. "Oh, I hope those fellowshaven't set her ranch on fire!" he groaned. "Let's see what is up."

  The entire party ran to the back door and looked across the plains inthe direction of the Mercedes ranch. Just as the mestizo had said, thesky in that direction was red and they could see the flames against thesky. But it was several feet south of the house.

  "It isn't the house," decided Ned. "Perhaps they are just burning someold rubbish."

  "Why should she select a hilltop to burn rubbish on?" asked theprofessor, sensibly. "Does she usually burn things at night?"

  "No," admitted Ned. "There must surely be something wrong. Yappi, thehorses!"

  The mestizo sprang around the house and went to the barn, from which hesoon led mounts for all of them. He was instructed to stay at the ranchwith the cook, in case the boys should return, and then the others threwthemselves on the animals and started off. Ned and Don rode well infront, their anxiety making them impatient, while the professor and thecaptain, who were not riders of note, lagged somewhat.

  It was not a long journey to the ranch of the senorita, but to the boysit seemed long, and when at last they ascended the last hill they drew abreath of relief. They were now near enough to see that the blazingbeacon was a tar barrel, and the circumstances became more puzzling thanever. But before they had much time to wonder about it they had toppedthe rise and were looking down on the scene below.

  The light from the blazing barrel showed them a curious scene. Theoutlaws had realized that they must make one last desperate assault, andat the present moment they were making it. Four men were close to thefront door, flat in the yard, a log rolled before them as a shield, overwhich they were firing at the door, splintering the wood badly. Theywere rolling the log before them as they advanced, and hoped in thismanner to get close enough to the door to make a determined rush. Fromthe interior of the house came occasional flashes of fire from threerifles and from the corner of the barn came another.

  While the relief party was taking this in the professor and the captainjoined them. The attacking party had not yet become aware of theirpresence, and seeing that the moment was favorable Ned and Don chargeddown the hill, the older men following. A single shot, fired by Ned,told Sackett and company that help had arrived, and without evenstopping to offer resistance they fled in every direction.

  The captain instantly discharged his gun at one of the fleeing men andhe went down in a heap. The professor shot Abel in the shoulder and Nedand Don pounced on the same man, springing from their horses upon theman. The fourth man, who was Sackett, ran to the thicket, made a singlebound into his saddle, and thundered away, passing close to Jim in hiscorner of the barn, who fired at him but missed in the excitement.

  Jim looked for an instant after the fleeing outlaw and then dashedaround the barn and entered it. The horses stood there, movingrestlessly, and he selected a fine looking steed and hastily saddled it.Leading it from the barn he mounted and started off with all speed afterSackett.

  The slim edge of a moon was rising above the horizon and by its somewhatsickly light Jim was able to follow the course of the bay pirate. Theman was making straight for the mountain and felt confident that hewould make it, but he was soon undeceived. The horse which Jim hadselected from the stables of the senorita was a high strung, fieryanimal, and he was eager to run. Jim needed no spur to keep him at topspeed, and the lead which the bandit had held was steadily cut down.

  Seeing that he could not make the mountains before the pursuing boy waswell within gunshot the outlaw made for a patch of trees that stoodnearby. They were a little more than a mile before him, and consisted ofa fairly dense tangle of low bushes and trees. His idea was probably tomake a last stand there, Jim decided, and the race settled down grimlyin that direction.

  Once Sackett turned and fired at Jim, but the shot went wide of themark, for the ground was uneven and the distance too great for accuracy.From that time on he gave his attention to the task of escaping, bendinglow over the neck of his steed and urging it on. The patch of trees wasnow very near and Sackett well in the lead.

  The outlaw drove his horse into the shelter of the little refuge atheadlong speed and vanished from Jim's sight. Jim pulled the steed to ahalt and paused uncertainly. Sackett was in the thicket and armed, andhe knew better than to recklessly dash on. If his theory was right thepirate was waiting for him to do that very thing, and it would be theworst move he could make. So he sat quietly in the saddle, wonderingwhat his next move should be.

  It was impossible for Sackett to escape to the mountains without beingseen for Jim could see all around the thicket, and if the man tried toslip from the other side and continue his flight Jim would surely spothim. And yet, his object in running into the brush also puzzled Jim.What could he gain by that? In a few minutes the others would come upand they would be able to charge him and take him prisoner. It seemed toJim that there was some deep scheme in the head of the outlaw, and so hewatched with all his senses alert, keeping well out of gunshot.

  In this position Don and Ned found him when they galloped up a half hourlater. Don fairly threw himself on his brother in his joy and Ned wasequally enthusiastic. Jim was in rags but was a welcome sight to Don.

  Jim explained the position of the outlaw in the thicket and they wereundecided. No sound had come from the thicket all the time that Jim hadbeen stationed there, and no one had left the place. Ned decided thatthey had better spread out and rush the cover.

  "If we rush the woods on three sides we'll have him," he said. "He can'tshoot at all three of us at once, and we can fairly hurl ourselves intothe place. By coming up on three different points we can prevent himfrom running out of one side of the thicket while we charge in another."

  "We must rush the thicket in a zigzag course," Don put in. "If we don't,we're likely to be shot."

  Agreeing on a gunshot for signal purposes the three boys took uppositions on three sides of the silent thicket and looked to theirrifles. Each one could see the other and at last Ned discharged his gun.At top speed they bore down on the thicket, driving the horses in anirregular line.

  To their astonishment there was no shot or sound from the thicket andthey entered it together, to find it empty of life except for Sackett'shorse, which was quietly grazing close to the edge of the brush. Thepatch inclosed by trees was about twenty-five feet in diameter and wasnothing more than a mere cluster of trees and bushes. The only thing tobe seen, beside the horse, was a huge pile of stones. They jumped fromthe horses and looked at each other in perplexity.

  "Now, where in the world did that man go?" demanded Ned, holding hisrifle in instant readiness.

  "You can search me!" answered Don, in bewilderment. "He's not in thetrees, is he?"

  Ned looked quickly up and then shook his head. "No, there isn't roomenough in these trees for anyone to hide themselves. He must be in theplace, because he certainly didn't walk out while we were there."

  "He didn't get away before you came, either," Jim said. "I kept an eagleeye on the place, and he couldn't have made it without my seeing him."

  "Well, he's gone," said Ned, walking to the horse and examining it."Just vanished into thin air."

  Don was looking at the heap of stones. It was a high cairn, composed ofstones which had been heaped there generations ago for some unknownreason, and moss had grown over the mound. Stones of a larger size madeup the bottom and small
er stones lay above these. Near the base of it hefound a straight slab with some Spanish lettering cut upon it.

  "What is written on this stone?" he asked Ned. The young engineer bentover the stone, lighted a match and read the inscription.

  "I can't make it all out," he replied, as the match expired in his hand."But it seems to be the burial place of someone of importance. They hada custom once of taking a distinguished man and piling a cairn of stonesover his grave. Sometimes the custom was for anyone who came past to adda stone to the pile and in that way it grew larger. This is one of thosepiles, and someone is buried down at the bottom of it."

  "All of which doesn't bring us any nearer Mr. Sackett," murmured Jim."I'd give anything to know where that gentleman went to!"

  "It just seems silly!" said Ned, impatiently. "You chase him in here andhe simply disappears. That isn't logical."

  "Look here!" cried Don, who had been moving around the pile of stones,and who was now on the other side. "Shouldn't all of these stones becovered with moss?"

  "I suppose so," Ned replied. "Why."

  "Because they aren't covered with moss on this side. The stones here aredifferent than the others, and seem to be looser. Come here and give mea hand."

  The other two boys hastened to Don's side and found that he was right.The stones to which he pointed had a brighter look than the others, andwhere the chinks and crevices of the other rocks had long since beenstopped up by moss, these rocks were singularly free. Moreover, theywere not well placed, and the boys were struck by the same idea.

  "Ah, ha!" exclaimed Ned, as he began to tear away the upper stones. "Ithink I see a thing or two! Help me with these stones."

  The other two went to work with a will and soon the stones were pulledout and tossed to one side. To their intense satisfaction a largeopening was revealed.

  "Just as we thought, the opening of a tunnel!" exclaimed Don.