CHAPTER IV.
SOME QUEER TRACKS.
The hour, the surroundings, and the utter mystery of the whole affaircombined to make the sudden appearance and vanishment of the greatshadowy shapes the more inexplicable, not to say alarming. Smallwonder was it that the inquiring faces that turned toward each otherwere a trifle whiter than usual.
"What do you make of it, Pete?" asked Jack.
"Stumped, by the big horn spoon!" was the expressive response.
"No doubt, some natural phenomena, with a simple explanation," camefrom the professor. It was noted, though, that his angular form seemedto be somewhat shivery as he spoke, and that his teeth chattered likedice rattling in a box.
"Natural phe-nothings!" burst out Pete. "The things, whatever theywas, were as solid as you or me."
"How was it they didn't make any noise, then?" inquired Ralph,practically.
"Waal, son, you jes' take a run on the bunchgrass, and you'll see thatyou won't make no racket, nuther."
Ralph did as he was directed, and it was really wonderful how silentlyhe sped over the springy vegetation.
"Maybe it was somebody putting up a scare on us," suggested Walt,rather lamely.
"They couldn't rig up anything as big as that," said Jack decisively,"besides, there's another thing--I didn't tell you because I thought Imight have been mistaken, but I saw those same things this afternoon."
"What?" went up in a perfect roar of incredulity.
"Say, is this some kind of a josh?" asked Coyote Pete suspiciously.
"Never more serious in my life," Jack assured him, and then went on torelate the strange experience that had befallen him when he had pokedhis head out from under the saddle in the sand-storm.
"If they weren't so enormous, I should say they was horses," said Pete;"but the biggest horses that ever growed never even approached themcritters--spooks, er whatever they are."
"There are giants among men," suggested Walt, "why shouldn't there begiants among spooks, too?"
"You get to Halifax with that spook talk," said Coyote Pete scornfully."I'll bet my Sunday sombrero that whatever them things is, there's somesore of human mischief back uv it. But what is it? Who put it up?"
"Yes, and what for, and why?" laughed Jack. "I tell you, fellows," hewent on, "it's no use of our racking our brains to-night over this.The best thing we can do is to set a watch. Then, if they come again,we can try a shot at them. If not, why then in the morning we'll makean investigation; eh?"
"Durn good advice," grunted Coyote Pete. "Now, I'd suggest that therperfusser takes ther fust watch, and----"
"No, no, my dear sir; really, I--I have a cold already. A-hem--ach-oo!"
The man of science, it seemed, had really developed serious bronchialtrouble in record time.
"Why, professor," said Jack mischievously, "haven't I heard you saythat you'd like a chance to investigate such a phenomenon as this?"
"Hum, yes--yes, my young friend. I may have said so, yes. And anyother time I should be only too pleased to--Good Land! what's that?"
With the agility of a grasshopper, the professor had jumped fully threefeet, as one of the pack-burros, nosing about behind him, accidentallybutted him in the small of his back. The others burst into a roar oflaughter, which they could not check. The professor, however, adjustedhis spectacles solemnly and looked about him with much dignity.
"I thought I saw a book I had dropped, almost in the fire," heexplained glibly, "so I jumped to get it before a hot ember fell on it."
"I had no idea you could jump like that, professor," laughed Jack."You should have gone in for athletics at Stonefell."
It was finally decided that Walt and Ralph should stand the firstwatch, and Coyote Pete and Jack the last part of the night. Theprofessor, after carefully drawing tight the curtain of his tent, "tokeep the cold out," as he explained, retired. Soon after, Jack and thecow-puncher also went to bed till the watch should summon them to go onduty in their turn.
But the night passed without any reappearance of the strange shapeswhich had so upset the tranquility of the little camp, and, viewed inthe fresh light of a new and glorious day, somehow the affair did notseem nearly so ominous and awe-inspiring as it had the night before.Breakfast, as you may imagine, was speedily disposed of, and, havingseen to the stock, the party started out to explore the mesa itself.
As has been said, the side upon which they had camped the night beforewas nothing but a sheer cliff. Under the guidance of Coyote Pete, theynow set out to encircle the strange precipitous formation. Theirhearts beat high, and their eyes shone with an aroused sense ofadventure as they strode along.
The professor carried with him a small volume containing a partialtranslation of the symbols and sign language of the ancient tribe whosedomains they were about to invade. Jack had a coil of stout, half-inchmanila rope, about two hundred feet in length. Walt Phelps' burden wasa shovel, while Ralph Stetson carried an axe. All bore with them theirrevolvers, and Coyote Pete carried, in addition, a rifle.
"Are you afraid of anything?" the professor had asked him, as henoticed the sun-bronzed plainsman pick up this latter weapon.
"Waal," Pete had rejoined, with a portentous wink at the boys, "younever kin tell in this wale of tears what you're a-goin' upaginst--queer shapes, fer instance."
As they strode along, naturally the subject of the shadowy forms whichhad alarmed them the night before arose. Jack would have liked toinvestigate them right then and there, but, after all, he decided withthe rest of the party, that an exploration of the mesa was the firstthing of importance to be accomplished. And an interesting sight thegreat abandoned aboriginal beehive, was, as they rounded theinaccessible side and emerged upon the portion which faced toward thenorthwest.
Pete's recollection had not played him false. There was a roughpathway constructed up its face upon this side, and at the top werethree tiers of holes bored in the rock face. These were evidentlyintended for windows, as a larger aperture was just as evidently meantfor a door. The path, which zig-zagged up the face of the mesa wasabout eight inches in width, not more, at its base, and varied--so faras they could see from below--from that breadth to a foot, as it grewhigher.
From the base to the summit the mesa was probably about one hundred andfifty feet in height, the windows not commencing till within twentyfeet of the top. Its length at the base was, roughly, three hundredfeet, and its thickness varied from three hundred feet or more at thecenter, to a few feet at each end. Roughly, then, its basic outlinewas that of an irregular parallelogram, while its profile was that of aflat-topped cone. For some moments the little group stood in silenceas they gazed up at the yellowish-gray walls of the once-active mound.
Finally, recovering from their reverie, they set out after Coyote Peteto scale the narrow pathway leading to the summit. But, as thecow-puncher set his feet on the lowermost part of the path, he gave anexclamation of astonishment and pointed downward.
There in the dust was a footprint,--several of them, in fact.
It was a startling discovery in that isolated part of the desert tocome upon the traces of human occupancy. Robinson Crusoe on his desertisland could not have looked any more astonished at the imprint of thesavage's sole, than did Coyote Pete. He stood looking downspeechlessly at his discovery, while the others crowded about him,asking a dozen questions at once.
"If the sand-storm had hit this section, we'd been able to form someidee of how long ago them hoofs was planted there," said Pete; "but asit is, ther feller who wondered how ther apple got in ther dumplingdidn't hev a harder problem than the nut we've got to crack."
"There must have been several of them," said Jack, who had been gazingin the dust, which lay thick on the pathway to the summit of the mesa.
"A dozen at least," nodded Pete. He tipped back his sombrero andscratched his ruffled hair, fairly at a standstill to account for whatthey had encountered.
"Mightn't it have been prospectors?" asked Ralph.
br /> "Might hev bin, yes," agreed Pete; "but, fer one thing, my son,prospectors don't usually travel in dozens."
"Hum--that's so," assented Jack, who at first had greeted Ralph'ssuggestion eagerly.
"Look here!" cried Ralph suddenly, holding up a glittering object whichhe had just discerned in the bunch-grass at the base of the mesa.
"What is it, my boy?" inquired the professor.
Ralph extended the object for their inspection.
"A strange coin," cried Walt.
"Not so blamed strange, either," said Pete, picking it off the boy'spalm and examining it. "It's a Mexican peso."
"Then the men who were here were Mexicans?" cried Jack.
"Not so fast, my boy," admonished Pete. "Might as well say that everyfeller who finds a Canadian dime in his pocket is a Kanuck. Say," hesuggested suddenly, "suppose you boys jes' see if you can find anytracks around the base of the mesa."
They scattered and looked carefully about them, but the bunch-grassgrew in quite a broad belt all about, and no footmarks could bediscerned. Nor did a careful examination of the grass show any brokenor trampled blades, as would have been the case had ponies been thererecently.
"That decides it," announced Pete, after this last fact had beenascertained, "whoever made those foot-marks wasn't here recent, that'sa fact. But who could they have been, and what brought them here?"
"Maybe Indians," suggested Ralph sagely.
"Yep, if Indians wore boots, which they don't," grinned Pete, whilepoor Ralph colored to the roots of his hair over the general laugh thatarose at his expense.
"I think," announced the professor finally, "that it would be our bestplan to go ahead exploring the mesa. After all, there is nothing herethat can hurt us. Those ruffians of Black Ramon's have been driven outof the country, and, anyway, they would not be likely to come here. Asfor Indians, their reservation is many miles to the north-east.Whoever was here, was either on a scientific quest, like ourselves, orelse unfortunately lost in the desert."
"Jes' ther same," grunted Pete, in a low voice that nobody overheard,"I'd like ter know what all this means: Big, shadowy shapes flittingaround in ther night, and footsteps here in ther mornin'. It don'tlook right."
He took a swift glance all about him. In every direction lay thedesert--glittering, far-reaching, lonely as the open sea. The onlybreak in the monotony came to the south--on the border--where stretchedthe rocky, desolate ridge.
"No one wouldn't come here without an object," reasoned Pete tohimself, as they began the ascent of the narrow, tortuous trail, "now,what in thunder could that objec' hev bin?"