CHAPTER XV.
THE MAMMOTH'S TUSKS.
Sure enough, the camp was awakened at an early hour the next day by acouple of rifle shots, and an excited commotion among the Indians. Theboys in whom, as in all healthy American youths, the hunting instinct wasstrong, at once scrambled from under their blankets, seized their riflesand dashed through the bushes toward the small stream which flowed fromthe mountains toward an arm of Prince William Sound.
A dozen rods from the camp, they came upon the guide and the Indiansstanding around a large bull caribou whose head boasted a magnificent pairof antlers. The animal's throat had been cut and the Indians had alreadyset to work to take off the hide.
"Got him the first shot," said the guide, "and tried to get another, butthey was too swift fer me. They was six in the herd. However, this isenough, and the poor things is bein' killed off fast enough fer theirhides and horns without our takin' more'n we need."
"Why didn't you call us?" asked Jack, "I should like to have got a shot atsome big game before we leave Alaska."
"Fer that very reason," replied the guide, "it's the close season now, andwe can only kill what we need for meat. Besides that, it's ticklishbusiness gettin' a shot at caribou, and two persons would have made morenoise than one, and I wanted very much to get one or two fer theseIndians, who need it, as I told you. Hurry up there, you Siwash, and getyer meat and have yer feast fer we've got to be movin'."
"What a handsome pair of antlers," said Rand, who was something of anaturalist.
"Best head I ever see," said the guide. "I'd be glad to make ye a presentof it if there was any chance of yer gettin' it out of Alaska at thisseason. However, we'll take it back to Seward and maybe Colonel Snow canfind some way to do it."
By this time two of the Indians had cut the carcass up, while the othershad built a hot fire. Several steaks were cut off and roasted before theflames under the guide's direction for the boys' breakfast, and they foundthe meat juicy and palatable. Then the Indians turned to and had their"feast." They partially roasted the flesh in great chunks, and for an hourgorged themselves like starving men just escaped from the desert.
"T-t-hey won't be able to walk," commented Pepper, after gazing at thegastronomic feat that put any of his previous efforts in the shade.
"Let 'em alone fer that," said the guide, "I never in my life see anythingthat could carry a bigger cargo of grub, and do a day's work than aSiwash. I s'pose it's because starvation's got ter be a regeler perfessionwith 'em. They can lay in food like a camel does water, and then go ferdays without it."
The Indians, having packed some of the meat for the next day, cut the restinto thin strips, and with the caribou's head, hung them to the branchesof trees out of reach of bears, to be called for on their return. Theriding horses were also turned loose, in a broad meadow to stay until thereturn, and nothing but the pack animals taken.
Their morning journey carried them higher and higher into the foothills ofthe Kenai range, and the trail became more rugged. About nine o'clock theIndians began to show some eagerness and excitement, and the chief toldthe guide that they would soon sight the peaks. Finally, the Siwashes ranahead to the top of a sharp rise and excitedly beckoned. The boys joinedthem, and as they reached the summit of the ridge a peculiar scene mettheir gaze.
The other side of the ridge sloped sharply for nearly two hundred feet toa valley nearly half a mile wide, paved with gravel and boulders, and asbald of vegetation as a desert. The rocks on the slope of the ridge andalong the sides of this wide shallow ravine were cut as sharply and wornas smooth as if the stone cutter's chisel had shaped their surfaces.
A quarter of a mile distant, and almost in the middle of the valley stoodan immense obelisk of rock some three hundred feet high, dividing, somedistance from the top into three sharp pinnacles. On the surface of themiddle spire could be seen a small black dot. The Indians were dancingwith excitement, and the boys themselves felt a thrill as they realizedthat they were nearing the climax of a great mystery.
"That looks like a great river bed, in which the water had dried up,"remarked Rand, "I never saw anything like it before."
"Bed of an old glacier," said the guide, who had come up. "Lots of 'em inthis country."
"That explains it, then," said Jack, excitedly.
"Explains what?" inquired Dick.
"How they got up there," replied Jack. "Don't you see? This valley wasfull of ice once nearly to the tops of those rocks, and when it came downand melted off, the bodies of the mammoths dropped out, and the nativesgathered the tusks and stored them in the cave which they could easilyreach with the glacier so near the top. Then the snow gave out somewherein the mountains and the glacier gradually pushed its way out and melted,leaving the cave high and dry."
"All right for you, Jack," said Gerald. "Begorra, you've had that storyalready written, I see. But it looks like the real goods."
"I've read of these things before," replied Jack.
"That's about what happened," commented the guide. "Some geological sharpswho were up here last year explained one of these rocky holes the sameway."
The pack horses were now brought up to the top of the ridge and unloaded,as they could not very easily be taken down the valley slope. With thegreatest care the plane was removed from the two pack animals, and withropes lowered on its own wheels down the gravelly slope. The motor andother machinery was slid down upon skids cut from the forest and placedalong the bank. At the bottom, the Scouts set to work putting the machinetogether.
"Ah," said the guide, with the air of a great discoverer, "I see what yerscheme is now. Ye're goin' up in that arrerplane, and see if ye can git apeek in that hole up there."
"Better than that," replied Gerald. "We're going to get up and get intothat hole."
Delighted at finding they were nearing the goal of their hopes with so fewobstacles, the Scouts worked cheerfully and earnestly upon thereassembling of the plane, and by noon had replaced the motor and testedevery stay, brace and control. Then, after a dinner of caribou meat andcoffee, they wheeled the plane over the gravel to the foot of the greatgray granite obelisk. As they neared it they could see that the dot at thesummit took more and more the shape of the ace of clubs, the mouth of thecave appearing as if cut by the hand of an artist, into gothic form. TheIndians were awe-stricken spectators, scarcely able to raise a hand towork, so impressed were they with the preparations.
Some seven hundred feet of strong, but light manila rope had been attachedto the lower frame of the machine, and to guard against accidents as muchmore had been coiled under the seat. It was Gerald's intention to riseover the obelisk, and trail the rope over the rock between two of thepinnacles, thus affording means for the raising eventually of a block andtackle and a rope ladder by which they would be able to reach the summit.But the "best laid plans o' mice and men" and even Boy Scouts, "gangagley," as Burns says.
They found a patch of smooth gravel, clear enough of boulders to allow theaviator to make an excellent start, and after trying out the engine tofind that it was working without a flaw, Gerald got a fine running startand mounted into the air. Working west half a mile, mounting all the timeto raise his trailing rope from the ground, he turned and circled aroundthe mighty mass of rock looking for the most likely point on the top overwhich to trail his line. As he passed he caught a glimpse of the interiorof the cave, and saw that it was much larger than it looked from theground to be.
Turning again, he concluded to pass between two of the pinnacles, andimmediately volplane down on the other side. As he approached the rock heshut off the engine, and the aeroplane began to slow down. The propellorstopped, and the plane sank perceptibly. One plane struck the side of apinnacle and crumpled up, the weight of the engine carried the middlesection, and the machine sank down a wrecked mass of canvas and wires upona narrow plateau between two of the points. Gerald was scarcely jarredfrom his seat by the impact and soon freed himself from the wreckage tofind himself marooned upon the top of a perpendicul
ar rock three hundredfeet from the ground. The Scouts and the Indians set up a cry of dismaywhen the possibility of the disaster became apparent, but as soon as hehad freed himself, Gerald assured them of his safety, and of the fact thathe had plenty of room to stand and move around upon. Another thing thatrelieved their fears was that he had about sixteen hundred feet of ropeavailable. He first gave his attention to the cave, and found that by aneasy climb of seven feet he could reach the mouth. He found the hole to beabout ten feet deep, by as many broad. It was perfectly lighted and piledin the rear was what appeared to be an indiscriminate mass of bones buriedunder a pile of dust. Dragging some of them out, he saw that the pileconsisted of some ten fine mammoth tusks, well preserved, two of whichwere still attached to part of the skull of the animal, a fine museumrelic. The rest was made up of a miscellaneous collection ofivory--narwhal's horns and tusks of the walrus--all weighing about fivehundred pounds.
There were also many Indian relics, nearly all in a decayed condition. Hesoon notified his companions of what the cave contained, and asked them tosend up the block and tackle on the rope he had dragged over the pinnacle.Fastening the block by a turn of the rope around a small point of rockabove his head, he bundled up the bones in canvas cut from one of theplanes and lowered it to his comrades. When the last of the ivory had beenlowered, together with the Indian relics which he thought the Siwashesmight prize, he took the other rope from the aeroplane and knotted it atten foot intervals. This he fastened to another point of rock and threwdown. Then he placed a noose of the tackle rope around his body under hisarms. Yelling to his companions to lower away he bent a last sorrowfullook upon his beloved aeroplane, and with tears in his eyes, swung offwith his knotted rope in his hands. Placing his feet against theperpendicular rock, he swung out by his knotted guide line, and fairlywalked down the face of the obelisk backward.
The loss of the machine and Gerald's stupendous adventure and escape wasalmost too much for the emotions of the Boy Scouts, and with watering eyesthey surrounded their comrade with many a hug and pat upon the back.
As for the Indians, they were on their knees almost worshipping themammoth's tusks and the Indian relics. To hide their emotions the boysbegan at once preparations for departure. The ivory was divided up, andunder the guide's direction taken across the gravel and up the ridge,where it was packed upon the horses. The remainder of the stuff wasabandoned, including the ropes, gasoline and tools to keep the derelictand exalted plane company. When they reached the top of the ridge, andwere about to descend into the foothills, the Scouts turned, and withbared heads paid a last tribute to the "First Airship in Alaska."
CHAPTER XVI
HOMEWARD BOUND.
They camped that night on the site of their previous resting place, and atearly morning gathered in their horses, some of which had strayed formiles, and were soon on their road back to Seward. By journeying rapidly,most of the trail being down hill, they arrived at the town early in theafternoon, where they found a despatch from Colonel Snow, asking them toawait him there, as he would return to that port.
With the guide, they put in their time visiting the surrounding country,and in a trip to the celebrated Columbia glacier, considered the mostbeautiful and impressive on Prince William's Sound. It is about four mileswide, and about three hundred feet high. There are ten other glaciers inPrince William's Sound which keep its magnificent fiords filled withicebergs which fall from the glaciers, with the sound of thunder. TheScouts made a trip over the ice fields of Columbia, which were full enoughof ice bridges and crevasses to furnish many a thrill.
"I wonder if there are any more mammoths on ice under us here," said Donas they tramped over the snowy surface.
"If there are, we shan't need an airship to get them," responded Rand.
"No," said Jack, "we shall want another kind of ship if we catch any moreof that sort."
Two days later the steamer from Seattle, by way of Cordova and Valdez,reached Seward and the Colonel was a passenger. He brought with him alarge package of letters from Creston which had been wandering over theYukon, and had finally come across from Eagle to Valdez by way ofFairbanks.
The boys repeated the newsy gossip of their home town, and exchanged theirletters freely. Pepper had three, however, which he read quietly byhimself.
"Come, Pepper," said Jack, "produce."
"These are entirely for private consumption," replied Pepper, turning red,but with an effort at dignity.
"Pretty much everything you get your hands on seems to be," commentedDick, and the boys surrounded Pepper with joined hands, singing: "I'll BetHe's Had a Letter from Home," until the badgered youth tackled his brotherand broke through the line of his tormentors. The Colonel had also foundat Valdez a brief letter from Swiftwater, who announced that he had gottenhold of what he considered a good claim, and if any of his late "command"cared to come up and help him work it, they might all be millionairesbefore the following spring.
"Any of you care to take the job?" asked the Colonel with a smile. "I'vetaken an interest with Swiftwater in any claims he may file on, and youmight find it worth while. However, I'm frank to say that, having gottenyou this far without disaster I should prefer to return you to your homessafe and in good order."
The reader may wish to follow the later adventures of the Boy Scouts, andin the next volume, "In the North Woods," their further history will betold.
The letters from home awakened many pleasant memories, and perhaps alittle feeling of home sickness, and there was no eager acceptance of theminer's proposition, which, anyway, was probably made in a joking spirit.
"I believe," said Rand, "I should like to come back here some time. Isometimes think that in spite of the fact that this great territory is sonear the North Pole, it's going to be a great commonwealth. I want to seeit in the winter time, when they say it is so terrible."
"Gee, I think we've had enough of it for this time," put in Gerald, with aserious look. "I want to get home and build another aeroplane. They'll begetting ahead of us on airships if we stay away much longer."
"And I hae me doots," put in the economical Don, "if this country isn'ttoo expensive for just regular living."
"I'm going to write a book about this country, and I want to get home todo it," said Jack.
"Well," said Dick, "I'm rather in favor of a short visit to the old homeat this time, just to astonish the natives with a few of our adventures.Since this patrol was formed, its experiences have got to be a regularhabit with the Creston folks, and I have an idea they must miss somethingby this time. I think it's our duty to let them have at least an 'Old HomeWeek' to relieve their--hey, what do you call it, Jack, in that highschool French of yours?--oh, yes, their _ongwee_."
"Well," said the ingenious Pepper, unguardedly, "I've got no reason--Ijust want to go home."
"Nothing to do with a sudden case of 'private consumption?'" cruellyremarked Jack, and amid the shout of laughter that followed Pepper,covered with a sunset glow, made a sudden exit in search of the guide.
Colonel Snow had a conference with the Indians after he had inspected the"treasure," and heard the story of its perilous recovery. He recognizedthat the value of the mammoth tusks as museum specimens was far greaterthan its worth as ivory, and he offered to pay the Indians far above itscommercial value for their interest in it, allowing them full possessionof the remaining ivory. They gladly accepted his suggestion, and all ofthem returned to their village near Skagway, with sufficient wealth tomake them independent until the next "potlatch," when they would probablygive it all away.
After a conference with the old guide, Colonel Snow made him an offer tojoin Swiftwater in the Fairbanks region, and operate with him on suchclaims as he should secure, and the old man prepared to return to hisoccupation as a miner, by the first fall stage from Valdez.
Having secured an official permit to take the caribou's head out of theterritory through the influence of Colonel Snow, the whole party embarkednext day on the homeward bound steamer, which
leaving Seward, and stoppingat Valdez and Cordova, took the "outside passage," for their trip, givingthe Scouts for the first time a full taste of the Pacific Ocean. Theyproved good sailors in this instance, however, and in a few days steppedashore in Seattle in their "Ain Countree."
As they crept into their berths in the Great Northern's TranscontinentalLimited that night, eastward bound, Jack said:
"Rand, what do you suppose became of Dublin, Rae and Monkey? They seem tohave missed us lately."
"You've heard, Jack, of a bad penny, haven't you? Well, they're three badpence. Look out."
(THE END.)
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