CHAPTER XII
AT THE GOLD FIELDS
Confusion reigned in the camp. The storm had come up with suchsuddenness that no one had been aware of it. Every one had been sleepingsoundly, after a hard day, and the first intimation of the outburst ofthe elements was when the deluge of rain came, and the lean-to was blownover.
"Somebody catch me!" cried Jed, who, wrapped up as he was, in severalrubber blankets, was being blown along like a ship under sail.
Will grabbed his brother, and helped to unwrap the coverings. While hewas doing this the lightning seemed to be constant, and the roar ofthunder was like the firing of heavy guns.
"Whew! This is fierce!" cried Jed, when he got his breath. The horseswere huddled together, trying to find some shelter from the pelting rainbeneath the trees.
"Fierce?" repeated old Gabe. "How about farming now? This rain beats theone when the cow was killed."
"That's right!" exclaimed Will. "Can't we get under some shelter?"
Hardly had he spoken when, with a terrific crash, lightning struck atree not far away. The shock stunned the travelers for a few seconds.
"We're safer in the open," said Mr. Hurd. "We'd better get out of thisgrove," and he moved out of the shelter of the clump of trees where thecamp had been pitched.
The rain then seemed to come down harder than ever. It wet them through,and the rubber blankets, which they grabbed up from the wreck of thelean-to, afforded small protection from the pelting downpour.
"I guess you wish you were back in the snug farmhouse, don't you, boys?"called Mr. Harrison above the roar of the storm.
"I do," replied Will, frankly.
"Oh, I can stand it," answered Jed. "We may get worse than this."
"That's right, my boy," added Mr. Curtin. "This is a bad storm, butthere's lots of worse things in the gold fields where you're going. Badmen are worse than bad storms."
"Right you are," murmured Gabe. "But if I'm not mistaken, this seems tobe letting up a bit."
The rain did not appear to be coming down quite so hard, and there werelonger pauses between the flashes of lightning. But if the storm didcease in its violence, it did not stop altogether, for it rained allnight, and, though the travelers did manage to make a rude sort ofshelter of the blankets, they spent several miserable hours untilmorning.
"Oh, for some hot coffee and crisp bacon!" exclaimed Will, as he crawledout from under his blanket, and surveyed the wet scene all about. "Itwouldn't be so bad then."
"Hot coffee! Crisp bacon!" exclaimed Gabe. "Say, young man, you ought tobe glad the sun is shining. There'll be no hot coffee this morning.Wood's too wet to make a fire. Cold grub for ours, until noon, when wemay strike a place where we can get some dry tinder. But the sun willsoon make our clothes look less as if we'd paid a visit to thewashwoman. Up, everybody, and straighten out camp!"
No one cared to linger in the wet blankets, and though it was not a verycheerful company that gathered around to eat a cold breakfast, they allfelt that matters might have been much worse.
The packs were soon strapped on the horses, and, mounting their steeds,the travelers set off again. On every side were evidences of the storm.The river they had crossed was swollen to twice its former size, andthey were glad that they had forded it the previous evening, instead ofdelaying, as they would have been held up several days waiting for theflood to subside.
That noon they arrived at a settler's cabin, where they were madewelcome, and glad enough they were of it, too, for they were doubtfulabout finding any dry wood to make a fire, and had the prospect of acold dinner before them. The settler, who had a small sheep ranch,greeted them cordially, and set out before them the best that he had.However, hot coffee was the most desirable thing he could provide.
From this man Gabe made some inquiries as to the best road to follow,for they were now approaching the gold fields, and they wanted to knowthe nearest trail to Dizzy Gulch.
"It's not far now," said the old miner to his companions, after a talkwith the sheep-herder. "Three days more ought to bring us there."
"Then for the golden nuggets!" exclaimed Jed. "I hope we can send someback to dad soon."
"Don't be too hopeful," cautioned Will, with his usual ability forlooking on the dark side of things.
"Yes, I'm going to be hopeful," responded Jed. "Half the fun of a thingis looking forward to it, and I'm going to imagine that I'm going topick up plenty of the yellow boys. Then, if I'm disappointed, I've hadthe satisfaction of some good thinking, anyhow."
"That's the right idea," declared Gabe.
They remained that night at the sheep-herder's cabin, and in the morningpressed forward again. The weather was fine after the storm, and thatnight they camped amid the mountains, near a trail that showed it waswell traveled.
"Hark! What's that!" exclaimed Will, in the middle of the night, as hewas awakened by hearing voices, and a noise of horses traveling over therocky path, not far from where they had pitched their camp.
"Sounds like a lot of men," observed Jed.
"It is," replied Gabe, who had also been awakened by the talk of theboys. "They're miners, too," he added, after listening a moment."They're on their way to new diggings. Boys, we're near our destination.This is where the main trail strikes in. The rush is on, and we're onlyjust in time!"
In the morning, when they started forward, they found they were only oneparty among a number. The rush was indeed on, and two days later the twoboys and their companions were on the edge of the gold fields ofMontana, and Dizzy Gulch, of which Ted Jordan had written, was less thana hundred miles away.