AN ALI BABA OF THE SIERRAS
Johnny Starleigh found himself again late for school. It was alwayshappening. It seemed to be inevitable with the process of going toschool at all. And it was no fault "o' his." Something was alwaysoccurring,--some eccentricity of Nature or circumstance was invariablystarting up in his daily path to the schoolroom. He may not have been"thinkin' of squirrels," and yet the rarest and most evasive of thatspecies were always crossing his trail; he may not have been "huntin'honey," and yet a wild bees' nest in the hollow of an oak absolutelyobtruded itself before him; he wasn't "bird-catchin'," and yet there wasa yellow-hammer always within stone's throw. He had heard how grown menhunters always saw the most wonderful animals when they "hadn't gota gun with 'em," and it seemed to be his lot to meet them in hisrestricted possibilities on the way to school. If Nature was thuscapricious with his elders, why should folk think it strange if she wasas mischievous with a small boy?
On this particular morning Johnny had been beguiled by the unmistakablefootprints--so like his own!--of a bear's cub. What chances he had ofever coming up with them, or what he would have done if he had, he didnot know. He only knew that at the end of an hour and a half he foundhimself two miles from the schoolhouse, and, from the position of thesun, at least an hour too late for school. He knew that nobody wouldbelieve him. The punishment for complete truancy was little worse thanfor being late. He resolved to accept it, and by way of irrevocabilityat once burnt his ships behind him--in devouring part of his dinner.
Thus fortified in his outlawry, he began to look about him. He was on athickly wooded terrace with a blank wall of "outcrop" on one side nearlyas high as the pines which pressed close against it. He had never seenit before; it was two or three miles from the highroad and seemed to bea virgin wilderness. But on close examination he could see, with theeye of a boy bred in a mining district, that the wall of outcrop had notescaped the attention of the mining prospector. There were marks of hispick in some attractive quartz seams of the wall, and farther on, a moreambitious attempt, evidently by a party of miners, to begin a tunnel,shown in an abandoned excavation and the heap of debris before it. Ithad evidently been abandoned for some time, as ferns already forcedtheir green fronds through the stones and gravel, and the yerba buenavine was beginning to mat the surface of the heap. But the boy's fancywas quickly taken by the traces of a singular accident, and one whichhad perhaps arrested the progress of the excavators. The roots of alarge pine-tree growing close to the wall had been evidently loosened bythe excavators, and the tree had fallen, with one of its largest rootsstill in the opening the miners had made, and apparently blocking theentrance. The large tree lay, as it fell--midway across another but muchsmaller outcrop of rock which stood sharply about fifteen feet abovethe level of the terrace--with its gaunt, dead limbs in the air at a lowangle. To Johnny's boyish fancy it seemed so easily balanced on the rockthat but for its imprisoned root it would have made a capital see-saw.This he felt must be looked to hereafter. But here his attention wasarrested by something more alarming. His quick ear, attuned like ananimal's to all woodland sounds, detected the crackling of underwoodin the distance. His equally sharp eye saw the figures of two menapproaching. But as he recognized the features of one of them he drewback with a beating heart, a hushed breath, and hurriedly hid himself inthe shadow. For he had seen that figure once before--flying beforethe sheriff and an armed posse--and had never forgotten it! It was thefigure of Spanish Pete, a notorious desperado and sluice robber!
Finding he had been unobserved, the boy took courage, and hissmall faculties became actively alive. The two men came on togethercautiously, and at a little distance the second man, whom Johnny did notknow, parted from his companion and began to loiter up and down, lookingaround as if acting as a sentinel for the desperado, who advanceddirectly to the fallen tree. Suddenly the sentinel uttered anexclamation, and Spanish Pete paused. The sentinel was examining theground near the heap of debris.
"What's up?" growled the desperado.
"Foot tracks! Weren't here before. And fresh ones, too."
Johnny's heart sank. It was where he had just passed.
Spanish Pete hurriedly joined his companion.
"Foot tracks be ----!" he said scornfully. "What fool would be crawlin'round here barefooted? It's a young b'ar!"
Johnny knew the footprints were his own. Yet he recognized the truthof the resemblance; it was uncomplimentary, but he felt relieved. Thedesperado came forward, and to the boy's surprise began to climb thesmall ridge of outcrop until he reached the fallen tree. Johnny saw thathe was carrying a heavy stone. "What's the blamed fool goin' to do?" hesaid to himself; the man's evident ignorance regarding footprintshad lessened the boy's awe of him. But the stranger's next essay tookJohnny's breath away. Standing on the fallen tree trunk at its axis onthe outcrop, he began to rock it gently. To Johnny's surprise itbegan to move. The upper end descended slowly, lifting the root in theexcavation at the lower end, and with it a mass of rock, and revealing acavern behind large enough to admit a man. Johnny gasped. The desperadocoolly deposited the heavy stone on the tree beyond its axis on therock, so that it would keep the tree in position, leaped from the treeto the rock, and quickly descended, at which he was joined by theother man, who was carrying two heavy chamois-leather bags. They bothproceeded to the opening thus miraculously disclosed, and disappeared init.
Johnny sat breathless, wondering, expectant, but not daring to move. Themen might come out at any moment; he had seen enough to know that theirenterprise as well as their cave was a secret, and that the desperadowould subject any witness to it, however innocent or unwilling, tohorrible penalties. The time crept slowly by,--he heard every rap of awoodpecker in a distant tree; a blue jay dipped and lighted on a branchwithin his reach, but he dared not extend his hand; his legs wereinfested by ants; he even fancied he heard the dry, hollow rattle of arattlesnake not a yard from him. And then the entrance of the cavewas darkened, and the two men reappeared. Johnny stared. He would haverubbed his eyes if he had dared. They were not the same men! Did thecave contain others who had been all the while shut up in its darkrecesses? Was there a band? Would they all swarm out upon him? Should herun for his life?
But the illusion was only momentary. A longer look at them convincedhim that they were the same men in new clothes and disguised, and as oneremounted the outcrop Johnny's keen eyes recognized him as Spanish Pete.He merely kicked away the stone; the root again descended gently overthe opening, and the tree recovered its former angle. The two hurriedaway, but Johnny noticed that they were empty-handed. The bags had beenleft behind.
The boy waited patiently, listening with his ear to the ground, like anIndian, for the last rustle of fern and crackle of underbrush, andthen emerged, stiff and cramped from his concealment. But he no longerthought of flight; curiosity and ambition burned in his small veins. Hequickly climbed up the outcrop, picked up the fallen stone, and in spiteof its weight lifted it to the prostrate tree. Here he paused, and fromhis coign of vantage looked and listened. The solitude was profound.Then mounting the tree and standing over its axis he tried to rock it asthe others had. Alas! Johnny's heart was stout, his courage unlimited,his perception all-embracing, his ambition boundless; but his actualavoirdupois was only that of a boy of ten. The tree did not move. ButJohnny had played see-saw before, and quietly moved towards its highestpart. It slowly descended under the changed centre of gravity, and theroot arose, disclosing the opening as before. Yet here the little heropaused. He waited with his eyes fixed on the opening, ready to fly onthe sallying out of any one who had remained concealed. He then placedthe stone where he had stood, leaped down, and ran to the opening.
The change from the dazzling sunlight to the darkness confused him atfirst, and he could see nothing. On entering he stumbled over somethingwhich proved to be a bottle in which a candle was fitted, and a box ofmatches evidently used by the two men. Lighting the candle he could nowdiscern that the cavern was only a few yards long, the beginn
ing of atunnel which the accident to the tree had stopped. In one corner lay theclothes that the men had left, and which for a moment seemed all thatthe cavern contained, but on removing them Johnny saw that they werethrown over a rifle, a revolver, and the two chamois-leather bagsthat the men had brought there. They were so heavy that the boycould scarcely lift them. His face flushed; his hands trembled withexcitement. To a boy whose truant wanderings had given him a fairknowledge of mining, he knew that weight could have but one meaning!Gold! He hurriedly untied the nearest bag. But it was not the gold ofthe locality, of the tunnel, of the "bed rock"! It was "flake gold,"the gold of the river! It had been taken from the miners' sluices inthe distant streams. The bags before him were the spoils of the sluicerobber,--spoils that could not be sold or even shown in the districtwithout danger, spoils kept until they could be taken to Marysville orSacramento for disposal. All this might have occurred to the mind of anyboy of the locality who had heard the common gossip of his elders, butto Johnny's fancy an idea was kindled peculiarly his own! Here was acavern like that of the "Forty Thieves" in the story book, and he wasthe "Ali Baba" who knew its secret! He was not obliged to say "OpenSesame," but he could say it if he liked, if he was showing it off toanybody!
Yet alas he also knew it was a secret he must keep to himself. He hadnobody to trust it to. His father was a charcoal-burner of small means;a widower with two children, Johnny and his elder brother Sam. Thelatter, a flagrant incorrigible of twenty-two, with a tendency todissipation and low company, had lately abandoned his father's roof,only to reappear at intervals of hilarious or maudlin intoxication.He had always been held up to Johnny as a warning, or with the gloomyprognosis that he, Johnny, was already following in his tortuousfootsteps. Even if he were here he was not to be thought of as aconfidant. Still less could he trust his father, who would be sure tobungle the secret with sheriffs and constables, and end by bringing downthe vengeance of the gang upon the family. As for himself, he could notdispose of the gold if he were to take it. The exhibition of a singleflake of it to the adult public would arouse suspicion, and as it wasJohnny's hard fate to be always doubted, he might be connected with thegang. As a truant he knew he had no moral standing, but he also hadthe superstition--quite characteristic of childhood--that being inpossession of a secret he was a participant in its criminality--andbound, as it were, by terrible oaths! And then a new idea seized him.He carefully put back everything as he had found it, extinguished thecandle, left the cave, remounted the tree, and closed the opening againas he had seen the others do it, with the addition of murmuring "ShutSesame" to himself, and then ran away as fast as his short legs couldcarry him.
Well clear of the dangerous vicinity, he proceeded more leisurely forabout a mile, until he came to a low whitewashed fence, inclosing asmall cultivated patch and a neat farmhouse beyond. Here he paused,and, cowering behind the fence, with extraordinary facial contortionsproduced a cry not unlike the scream of a blue jay. Repeating it atintervals, he was presently relieved by observing the approach of anankeen sunbonnet within the inclosure above the line of fence. Stoppingbefore him, the sun-bonnet revealed a rosy little face, more thanusually plump on one side, and a neck enormously wrapped in a scarf. Itwas "Meely" (Amelia) Stryker, a schoolmate, detained at home by "mumps,"as Johnny was previously aware. For, with the famous indiscretion ofsome other great heroes, he was about to intrust his secret and hisdestiny to one of the weaker sex. And what were the minor possibilitiesof contagion to this?
"Playin' hookey ag'in?" said the young lady, with a cordial and evenexpansive smile, exclusively confined to one side of her face.
"Um! So'd you be ef you'd bin whar I hev," he said with harrowingmystery.
"No!--say!" said Meely eagerly.
At which Johnny, clutching at the top of the fence, with hurried breathtold his story. But not all. With the instinct of a true artist hewithheld the manner in which the opening of the cave was revealed, saidnothing about the tree, and, I grieve to say, added the words "OpenSesame" as the important factor to the operation. Neither did he mentionthe name of Spanish Pete. For all of which he was afterwards dulygrateful.
"Meet me at the burnt pine down the crossroads at four o'clock," he saidin conclusion, "and I'll show ye."
"Why not now?" said Meely impatiently.
"Couldn't. Much as my life is worth! Must keep watching out! You come atfour."
And with an assuring nod he released the fence and trotted off. Hereturned cautiously in the direction of the cave; he was by no meanssure that the robbers might not return that day, and his mysteriousrendezvous with Meely veiled a certain prudence. And it was well! For ashe stealthily crept around the face of the outcrop, hidden in the ferns,he saw from the altered angle of the tree that the cavern was opened.He remained motionless, with bated breath. Then he heard the sound ofsubdued voices from the cavern, and a figure emerged from the opening.Johnny grasped the ferns rigidly to check the dreadful cry that rose tohis lips at its sight. For that figure was his own brother!
There was no mistaking that weak, wicked face, even then flushed withliquor! Johnny had seen it too often thus. But never before as a thief'sface! He gave a little gasp, and fell back upon that strange reserve ofapathy and reticence in which children are apt to hide their emotionsfrom us at such a moment. He watched impassively the two other men whofollowed his brother out to give him a small bag and some instructions,and then returned within their cave, while his brother walked quicklyaway. He watched him disappear; he did not move, for even if he hadfollowed him he could not bear to face him in his shame. And then out ofhis sullen despair came a boyish idea of revenge. It was those two menwho had made his brother a thief!
He was very near the tree. He crept stealthily on his hands and kneesthrough the bracken, and as stealthily climbed the wedge of outcrop,and then leaped like a wild cat on the tree. With incredible activity helifted the balancing stone, and as the tree began to move, in a flashof perception transferred it to the other side of its axis, and feltthe roots and debris, under that additional weight, descend quickly withsomething like a crash over the opening. Then he took to his heels. Heran so swiftly that all unknowingly he overtook a figure, who, turning,glanced at him, and then disappeared in the wood. It was his second andlast view of his brother, as he never saw him again!
But now, strange to say, the crucial and most despairing moment of hisday's experience had come. He had to face Meely Stryker under the burntpine, and the promise he could not keep, and to tell her that he hadlied to her. It was the only way to save his brother now! His smallwits, and alas! his smaller methods, were equal to the despairing task.As soon as he saw her waiting under the tree he fell to capering anddancing with an extravagance in which hysteria had no small part. "Sold!sold! sold again, and got the money!" he laughed shrilly.
The girl looked at him with astonishment, which changed gradually toscorn, and then to anger. Johnny's heart sank, but he redoubled hisantics.
"Who's sold?" she said disdainfully.
"You be. You swallered all that stuff about Ali Baba! You wanted to beMorgy Anna! Ho! ho! And I've made you play hookey--from home!"
"You hateful, horrid, little liar!"
Johnny accepted his punishment meekly--in his heart gratefully. "Ireckoned you'd laugh and not get mad," he said submissively. The girlturned, with tears of rage and vexation in her eyes, and walked away.Johnny followed at a humble distance. Perhaps there was somethinginstinctively touching in the boy's remorse, for they made it up beforethey reached her fence.
Nevertheless Johnny went home miserable. Luckily for him, his father wasabsent at a Vigilance Committee called to take cognizance of the latesluice robberies, and although this temporarily concealed his offenseof truancy, the news of the vigilance meeting determined him to keephis lips sealed. He lay all night wondering how long it would take therobbers to dig themselves out of the cave, and whether they suspectedtheir imprisonment was the work of an enemy or only an accident. Forseveral days he avoided the local
ity, and even feared the vengefulappearance of Spanish Pete some night at his father's house. It wasnot until the end of a fortnight that he had the courage to revisit thespot. The tree was in its normal position, but immovable, and a greatquantity of fresh debris at the mouth of the cave convinced him that therobbers, after escaping, had abandoned it as unsafe. His brother did notreturn, and either the activity of the Vigilance Committee or the lackof a new place of rendezvous seemed to have dispersed the robbers fromthe locality, for they were not heard of again.
The next ten years brought an improvement to Mr. Starleigh's fortunes.Johnny Starleigh, then a student at San Jose, one morning found anewspaper clipping in a letter from Miss Amelia Stryker. It read asfollows: "The excavators in the new tunnel in Heavystone Ridge latelydiscovered the skeletons of two unknown men, who had evidently beencrushed and entombed some years previously, by the falling of a largetree over the mouth of their temporary refuge. From some river goldfound with them, they were supposed to be part of the gang of sluicerobbers who infested the locality some years ago, and were hiding fromthe Vigilants."
For a few days thereafter Johnny Starleigh was thoughtful and reserved,but he did not refer to the paragraph in answering the letter. Hedecided to keep it for later confidences, when Miss Stryker shouldbecome Mrs. Starleigh.