CHAPTER XXIV
MAKING A LAST STAND
"You poor fish!" roared Hippy as he came up sputtering.
Stacy was making for the shore at full speed, creating considerabledisturbance in the water as he progressed. Tom Gray and Hippy,concluding that safety first was the motto for them, were hitting up arapid gait. The bullets, however, did not cease falling about them. Allat once reports of other rifles, apparently fired close at hand, reachedthe ears of the swimmers.
"The girls are shooting!" cried Tom.
The Overland girls had run to camp for their rifles, and with them weretrying to search out the hidden mountain marksmen, trusting to drive themountaineers off, or at least to check their fire until their threecompanions could reach shore.
Hippy and Tom were swimming for the shore in the direction of themountain cave. Observing this, the Overland girls ran forward to meetthem.
"Hurry! Oh, hurry!" shouted Nora in great distress.
"They can't reach us with their bullets now," answered Hippy. "We areprotected by the overhang of the mountain on their side."
"Hippy is right. They have stopped shooting," announced Grace.
At this juncture Stacy Brown floundered ashore and ran dripping towardsthe cave.
"Here, here! Where are you going?" called Elfreda.
"Into my bomb-proof shelter; that's where I'm going," flung back Stacy.
"You had better hide," reminded Elfreda.
"Where's that boy?" cried Hippy as he, too, floundered ashore.
"Never mind Stacy now. We have other and more important matters onhand," answered Grace. "Hurry, Tom. I have sent Woo up among the rocksto act as lookout while we consider what to do next."
"This is a fine mess. Here I am drenched to the skin, shivering like aman with the ague, and a band of scoundrels trying to shoot me up.Hospitable country, I must say," complained Tom Gray.
"It might be worse. You and Hippy had better go into the cave and changeyour clothes," suggested Grace.
"Change to what?"
"That's so. It might be imprudent for any of us to go to camp for freshclothing."
"Come, girls, let's gather wood and build a fire," urged Miss Briggs."We can build a small fire in the cave and let our men dry out in thereand we will stand guard on the outside."
"Good! That is real headwork," agreed Tom. "Give me a handful of sticksand I'll start a fire if you will provide the matches. Mine are soaked."
Hippy had already started in search of Stacy Brown, but Stacy was not insight. He had fled to the farther end of the cave, whence he was gazingapprehensively towards the opening.
"You may come out," offered Hippy. "I'm too wet to have my interviewwith you now. When I get dried out I'll have a friendly conversationwith you. Come out!"
Stacy sidled out, watching Uncle Hip narrowly. Tom came in at thisjuncture, with an armful of twigs that the girls had gathered, andstarted a small fire.
"I don't want to be smoked out," complained Stacy.
"There is worse than that coming to you, young man," reminded Tom. "Atpresent, however, we have other things to attend to. Strip and dry out."
"I don't want to dry out. I want to be soaked," retorted Stacy.
"Don't worry. You're going to be," warned Lieutenant Wingate.
"If it hadn't been for me you folks never would have discoveredanything," Stacy declared, turning a reproachful gaze on his twocompanions.
"And if it hadn't been for you, I should not have been dumped into alake of ice water twice in one day," returned Hippy. "Tom, what is youridea of this shooting?"
"We have interfered with someone's business, that's plain," replied Tom."When we hauled up that box of plunder, or whatever it may be, they letgo at us with their rifles. Nor is that the worst of it--we are in formore trouble, and I should not be at all surprised to see it break atany moment, I--"
"Tom!" cried Grace Harlowe with a rising inflection in her voice.
"Yes?"
"Woo is running towards the cave, waving his arms. I think he hasdiscovered something."
Hippy nodded at Tom and began drawing on his wet clothing.
"May the girls go inside now?" called Grace.
"No! Keep out! We will be ready in a moment," answered Hippy.
A shot, followed by a howl from Woo Smith, caused the two men toredouble their efforts. Hippy finished dressing first and ran out, riflein hand, just as the guide came running up.
"Me savvy tlouble. Plenty men come 'long."
"How many?" interjected Tom.
"Sees."
"Six, eh? We ought to be able to handle them," answered Hippy.
"There probably are more than six. What shall we do?" questioned Grace.
"All hands get inside the cave. From there we can watch the lake, and atthe same time be fairly well protected," directed Hippy.
Acting upon a hail from Tom that he was ready, the Overlanders hastenedinto the cave, where Woo was questioned in detail as to what he hadobserved. Having obtained all the information that the guide had togive, Hippy and Tom crept out, and lay secreted in the bushes in frontof the cave to guard against surprises.
They had been there but a short time when Lieutenant Wingate discovereda man on the rocks about a hundred yards to the right of them. At almostthe same instant Tom Gray nudged his companion.
"Two men are over in our camp," he whispered.
"Don't shoot. Time enough for that. They don't know where we are.They--" Hippy paused abruptly.
"They don't, eh?" jeered Tom Gray as a bullet flattened itself on therocks just above the opening into the cave. "Keep down in there!"
"I think they are merely trying to smoke us out," answered Hippy calmly.
A scattering volley of bullets was fired at the cave opening as hespoke, but there was no response from the besieged Overland Riders.Elfreda called softly to know if the two men needed assistance, but bothsaid all the assistance they needed just then was to be let alone.
"There go the ponies!" exclaimed Tom Gray.
When Hippy looked he saw three men leading the Overland saddle poniesinto a defile in the mountains. Hippy threw up his rifle, but lowered itinstantly.
"It won't do any good to shoot. Then again I might hit a pony. What Iwant to do is to get a man. Sh-h-h-h!"
The man that Hippy had seen, but who had disappeared immediatelyafterward, he now discovered lying on a slab of rock up high enough togive him a fairly good view of the entrance to the cave.
"I see him. Don't move. He is looking this way," whispered LieutenantWingate.
After a few moments of cautious observation, the man on the rock crawledback and disappeared.
The day was rapidly drawing to a close and the two Overland men began tofeel considerable concern. There was little hope in their minds thatthey were going to get out of their present situation that night. Tomand Hippy discussed the situation, and considered the idea of creepingaway in the night, but finally concluded that their greatest safety layin keeping out of sight and awaiting developments.
"It is their move first," declared Tom. "And when they do startsomething we shall be on the job, though I am a little concerned aboutour ammunition. We have none to waste. It seems to me that there oughtto be some in that cave, if the scoundrels are half as prudent as wethink they are."
Hippy called softly to Nora, asking her to have a thorough search of thecave made to see if ammunition might not be found. Half an hour laterNora reported that they could find none.
"Then we shall have to get along with what we have," decided Tom Gray."With what we have we ought to be able to give a pretty fair account ofourselves."
Night fell, with the lake and the mountainsides bathed in a flood ofmoonlight, for the moon was full and well up. The fire in the cave hadlong since been put out so that the besiegers might not smell the smoke,and, shortly after dark, the girls passed out a luncheon, taken from thestores of food that Stacy Brown had discovered on h
is first visit to thecave. Tom and Hippy were munching this eagerly, when Tom uttered asuppressed exclamation.
"Look yonder!" he whispered.
"It's the dugout!" breathed Hippy.
The dugout, with three men in it, was being rapidly paddled out into thelake, which was now quiet, a gleaming sheet of silver in the brightmoonlight. The paddlers went straight to the log and began hauling up onthe rope at one end.
"They are after the chests. What would you advise, Tom?" asked Hippyeagerly.
"We are going to shoot, that's what," answered Tom Gray, leveling hisrifle. "I don't want to hit anyone, but I do want to give them a scare."Taking careful aim at the canoe, he fired--and missed. Tom shot again,and this time his bullet reached its mark--the dugout.
Hippy Wingate tried a shot and scored a hit the first time. The men inthe dugout showed indications of panic.
"Let 'em have it hard," urged Tom, whereupon both men began shooting,but the shooting was not confined to their own rifles. From somewhere onthe mountain-side other rifles spoke, and bullets spattered against therocks that stood out white in the moonlight, hard by the cave.
"They've located us!" cried Tom Gray. "Stacy, come out here, but creepout," he ordered.
The fat boy came wriggling out, rifle in hand.
"See if you can find the fellows who are shooting at us; then stir themup," directed Tom.
A few moments later, Chunky's rifle spoke. In the meantime Tom and Hippyhad been shooting at the boat, taking their time, aiming withdeliberation, until finally the fire became too hot for the men in thedugout, and they paddled rapidly shoreward to the other side of thelake. Soon after their arrival there they began to shoot at thecave-mouth. Hippy and Tom then turned their rifles in that direction,but with what result they were unable to determine.
Stacy shot slowly and steadily, without apparent nervousness, and thetwo men began to feel respect for the irrepressible Chunky. After a timethe fire on both sides died down and silence settled over the scene.Finally, Grace suggested that she and Elfreda relieve the men of theirwatch, which, after reflection, was agreed to. After a vigil of somehours Grace called for Tom and pointed towards the lake, that wasshining in the moonlight.
"Is not something moving out there?" she questioned.
"Yes. It is those scoundrels after the chests again. Call Hippy!"
After watching the shadowy shape of the dugout for some moments the twoOverland men again opened fire, and once more the dugout was hurriedlypaddled ashore.
No further disturbance occurred that night. The girls went to sleep, butLieutenant Wingate and Captain Gray remained on duty from that time on.All of the following day was spent in the cave, not a shot being firedon either side. The Overlanders were of the opinion that theiradversaries were keeping out of sight for the purpose of luring theparty out into the open, so they remained where they were.
Another night came on, and at about ten o'clock the Overland Riders weretreated to a deluge of rifle bullets, which was not returned, as theammunition supply was now too low.
"Grace, have you taken an inventory of the food?" asked Tom, after thefiring had died down.
"Yes. We have enough for present needs, but have you considered that wemay be held here until either we starve or are shot? I, for one, am infavor of making our escape. Take my word for it, our besiegers will playsome trick that will prove our undoing," declared Grace with strongconviction in her tone.
"We will stick it out another day," answered Lieutenant Wingate.
"And walk all the way back to Gardner," finished Elfreda Briggs. "I amof the opinion that--"
"Hark!" warned Nora, holding up a hand for silence. A faint tappingsound was heard by all. It seemed to be somewhere over their heads, butno one was able to interpret the sound, and after a time it ceased.
"Something is doing. Get your rifles ready," ordered Tom.
The words had no sooner left his lips than a heavy detonating explosionsent a shower of rock and dirt down over their heads. None of the pieceswas large enough to injure the Overlanders, but the dust set themcoughing and choking so that instinctively all crowded towards the caveentrance for air, and further, because of fear that the rocks abovemight cave in on them.
"That was dynamite!" exclaimed Tom Gray. "Either they are trying to buryus here or to drive us out."
"And I am going out," declared Lieutenant Wingate. "Tom, you stay here,but for goodness sake make the folks keep down. The first head I see Iam going to shoot at. Give me some cartridges, each of you."
Five minutes later Lieutenant Wingate was crawling out on his stomach assilently as an Indian. Once more he heard that familiar tapping on therocks above the cave.
"The fiends!" he muttered. "I've got to get up to their level or goabove them." He decided to proceed to the left of the cave, then ascendand approach the rocks above it. This he succeeded in doing. About thetime he came within sight of the rocks over the cave the ground wasshaken by another explosion. In the bright moonlight, he saw three menrunning towards the scene.
Hippy threw up his rifle and fired. One of the three men plunged forwardand rolled over the edge of the rocks, landing, as Lieutenant Wingatethought, near the entrance to the cave. The other two men instantlydisappeared.
"One!" growled the Overland Rider, hurriedly removing himself from thatparticular locality. Reaching a point where he could look across thecave entrance, Hippy made a startling discovery. The second charge ofdynamite had been fired close to the edge of the rocks overhanging thecave entrance, so that the falling rocks had blocked it entirely.Lieutenant Wingate now crawled to the entrance, not knowing what instanthe might be the target for a bullet, and, placing his lips close to acrevice, called softly.
His hail was answered from within. To his great relief, he learned thatnone of his companions had been injured, but that they dared not try toremove the wreckage from the inside fearing they might bring down a massof rocks. Hippy advised them to remain quiet until later when he wouldtry to work his way in.
"Just now, I must keep a sharp lookout," he added. Not another shot didhe get at their adversaries, however, but just after daylight a rattlingfire sprang up. Listening attentively, Hippy concluded that two partieswere engaged in the shooting--at it "hammer and tongs," as he expressedit. A few minutes later he saw two men running for the lake--saw themleap into the dugout and paddle excitedly towards the anchored log. Hewaited until they began to haul in on the rope at one end of the log,and then opened fire. One bullet bowled a man over. The other mangrabbed the paddle and struck out for the shore with all speed. He hadnearly reached it when a burst of fire from among the trees near wherethe Overland camp was located knocked the man over. He fell overbackwards in the dugout, which slowly drifted ashore.
A group of horsemen at this juncture rode out into the open, and aninstant later a bullet whistled past Hippy's head.
"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. "I reckon the whole communityhas it in for me. I've got to have a look at those people." With thatHippy worked his way cautiously through the bushes until he got anunobstructed view of the newcomers. The Overland Rider gazed, and as hedid so his under jaw sagged.
"Ye-o-o-o-w!" yelled Hippy, leaping to his feet.
A rifle bullet answered him, but he was down ere it reached him. Oncemore he sprang up and fired three quick shots straight up into the air,then went down again. This time there was an interval, then the welcomeanswer--three signal shots--was fired. Hippy got up and waved his hat.He had recognized one member of that party. That member was SheriffFord.
"Overland!" shouted Lieutenant Wingate upon getting to his feet.
Sheriff Ford did not recognize him at once, but the party of horsemenrode towards him with rifles at ready, Hippy standing out in the openwith hands held up. Sheriff Ford then uttered a shout as he recognizedthe Overland Rider.
It was a happy meeting--for Hippy Wingate. It took but a moment forexplanations. A posse, with two sheriffs, including Ford, and five huskycitizens of Gardn
er, had come out in search of the bandits who had triedto rob the Red Limited, and who were supposed to have held up and robbedanother treasure train a week earlier.
On their way to release the Overland party, Hippy confided to SheriffFord the discovery of the iron chests secured to the log in the lake.
"I suppose there is a reward for the recovery of the plunder, but ifthere is, you take it. We don't want it," said Hippy.
Sheriff Ford protested, but Hippy said the Overland Riders could notconsider accepting a reward under any circumstances. Ford said that insuch event, the reward would be shared by the members of the posse, andthat, in fact, the reward offered by the express company was theprincipal motive for the posse coming out to try to accomplish what thePinkertons had thus far failed to do.
The Overlanders were, after considerable hard work, released from theirimprisonment in the cave, and it was then that Ford told them of thefight with the bandits, who, he said, were all members of the JonesBoys' gang. Of ten bandits, the posse had killed or wounded four. Theyfound two who had been wounded before the arrival of the posse, one ofwhom, Hippy believed, was the fellow he had shot on the shelf of rock,and took four prisoners, including Mother Jones, the mother of theleaders of the gang. Four bandits had succeeded in escaping.
"Mother Jones!" exclaimed the Overlanders.
As it later developed, it was Mother Jones whose face had so frightenedWoo, and which Grace Harlowe had seen reflected in the pool. MotherJones had done the shooting at the Overlanders, following the Overlandparty's discovery of the chests in the lake. It was Mother Jones who hadfired at them when they were bombarding the lake with boulders.
No time was lost in getting the chests from the bottom of the lake, andnone was more interested in the contents than were the originaldiscoverers, the Overland Riders. The chests were found to containsomething more than half a million dollars in gold and banknotes, buttwo other chests stolen from the same shipment never were found, thoughthe lake was dragged from end to end. It was believed that the contentsof the missing chests had been divided among the bandits and secretedsomewhere in the mountains, but not a man of the Jones gang would admitthis to be the fact.
The Overland ponies were found secreted in a mountain defile, and thatnight there was a jollification in camp, a real feast of venison andtrout, songs and story-telling, even Woo Smith indulging in his familiarsong, to which no one now objected. Stacy Brown overlooked noopportunity to call attention to the fact that he was the one who haddiscovered the treasure chests, discovered the log to which they wereanchored, and said he supposed that the railroad or the express companyowed him a hundred thousand dollars.
"How much do you want? Come now," urged Sheriff Ford.
"Want?" exclaimed Stacy. "I don't want anything from you, but I wantthese unfortunate Overland Riders to appreciate what I have done forthem, and I want them to apologize to me for the abuse they heaped on mewhile I was seeking to transmigrate trouble from their doors."
Sheriff Ford laughed heartily at Stacy's remarks.
"For he's a jolly good fellow," began Nora Wingate, in which theOverland Riders joined whole-heartedly, even Emma Dean, for the moment,forgetting her feud with Stacy Brown to the extent of keeping time withher lips, Woo Smith independently chattering his "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" shoutsof laughter winding up the tribute to the fat boy's hold on theiraffections.
The Overland Riders decided to accompany the sheriffs and their party toGardner. Being well satisfied with their vacation they were now ready togo home. The prisoners and the treasure were taken along to Gardner,which was reached several days later. Then the Riders entrained for homeafter the most interesting journey they had ever taken. On their wayeast they elected the irrepressible Chunky to full membership in theOverland Riders, and he promised to accompany them on their nextseason's ride.
The story of that ride will be found in a following volume entitled,"GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK." Themysterious loss of the Riders' ponies, the raid of the grizzlies, thepuzzling robbery at the Springs Hotel, a night of terror on ElectricMountain, the hold-up of the Cumberland coach, and the solving of theYellowstone mystery, are among the many experiences that befell GraceHarlowe's Riders on their never-to-be-forgotten journey through thegreat National Park.
THE END
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends