The Last of the Chiefs: A Story of the Great Sioux War by Joseph A. Altsheler
Chapter IVTreasure-Trove
When Dick passed the crest of the ridge and began the descenttoward the fatal pass, his heart beat heavily. The terror andshock of the night before, those distant shots and shouts,returned to him, and it was many minutes before he could shakeoff a dread that was almost superstitious in its nature. Butyouth, health, and the sunlight conquered. The day wasuncommonly brilliant. The mountains rolled back, green on theslopes, blue at the crests, and below him, like a brown robe, laythe wavering plain across which they had come.
Dick could see no sign of human life down there. No rejoicingSioux warrior galloped over the swells, no echo of a triumphantwar whoop came to his ear. Over mountain and plain alike thesilence of the desert brooded. But high above the pass greatblack birds wheeled on lazy pinions.
Dick believed more strongly than ever that the Sioux had goneaway. Savage tribes do not linger over a battlefield that isfinished; yet as he reached the bottom of the slope his heartbegan to beat heavily again, and he was loath to leave theprotecting shadow of the pines. He fingered his rifle, passinghis hand gently over the barrel and the trigger. It was a fineweapon, a beautiful weapon, and just at this moment it was awonderful weapon. He felt in its full force, for the first timein his life, what the rifle meant to the pioneer.
The boy, after much hesitation and a great searching of eye andear, entered the pass. At once the sunlight dimmed. Walls asstraight as the side of a house rose above him three of fourhundred feet, while the distance between was not more than thirtyfeet. Dwarf pines grew here and there in the crannies of thecliffs, but mostly the black rock showed. Dwarf pines also grewat the bottom of the pass close to either cliff, and Dick keptamong them, bending far down and advancing very slowly.
Fifty yards were passed, and still there was no sound save aslight moaning through the pass, which Dick knew was the sigh ofthe wind drawn into the narrow cleft. It made him shudder, andhad he not been of uncommon courage he would have turned back.
He looked up. The great black birds, wheeling on lazy pinions,seemed to have sunk lower. That made him shudder, too, but itwas another confirmation of his belief that all the Sioux hadgone. He went eight or ten yards farther and then stopped short.Before him lay two dead horses and an overturned wagon. Bothhorses had been shot, and were still in their gear attached tothe wagon.
Dick examined the wagon carefully, and as he yet heard and saw nosigns of a human being save himself, his courage grew. It was abig wagon of the kind used for crossing the plains, with boxesaround the inside like lockers. Almost everything of value hadbeen taken by the Sioux, but in one of the lockers Dick was luckyenough to find a large, heavy, gray blanket. He rolled it up atonce, and with a strap cut from the horse's gear tied it on his back,after the fashion of a soldier on the march.
"The first great treasure!" he murmured exultantly. "Now for thenext!"
He found in the same wagon, jammed under the driver's seat andhidden from hasty view, about the half of a side of bacon--tenpounds, perhaps. Dick fairly laughed when he got his hands uponit, and he clasped it lovingly, as if it were a ten-pound nugget ofpure gold. But it was far better than gold just then. He wrappedit in a piece of canvas which he cut from the cover of the wagon,and tied it on his back above the blanket.
Finding nothing more of value in the wagon, he resumed hisprogress up the pass. It was well for Dick that he wasstout-hearted, and well for him, too, that he was driven by greatneed, else he would surely have gone back.
He was now come into the thick of it. Around him everywhere laythe fallen, and the deeds done in Indian warfare were notlacking. Sam Conway lay upon his side, and brutal as the man hadbeen, Dick felt grief when he saw him. Here were others, too,that he knew, and he counted the bodies of the few women who hadbeen with the train. They had died probably in the battle likethe rest. They, like the men, had been hardened, rough, andcoarse of speech and act, but Dick felt grief, too, when he sawthem. Nearly all the animals had been slain also in the fury ofthe attack, and they were scattered far up the pass.
Dick resolutely turned his face away from the dead and began toglean among the wagons for what the Sioux might have left. Allthese wagons were built like the first that he had searched, andhe was confident that he would find much of value. Nor was hedisappointed. He found three more blankets, and in their ownwagon the buffalo robe that he had lamented. Doubtless, itspresence there was accounted for by the fact that the Sioux didnot consider a buffalo robe a trophy of their victory over whitemen.
Other treasures were several boxes of crackers, about twentyboxes of sardines, three flasks of brandy, suitable for illness,a heavy riding cloak, a Virginia ham, two boxes of matches, asmall iron skillet, and an empty tin canteen. He might havesearched further, but he realized that time was passing, and thatAlbert must be on the verge of starvation. He had forgotten hisown hunger in the excitement of seek and find, but it came backnow and gnawed at him fiercely. Yet he would not touch any ofthe food. No matter how great the temptation he would not take asingle bite until Albert had the same chance.
He now made all his treasures into one great package, except thebuffalo robe. That was too heavy to add to the others, and hetied it among the boughs of a pine, where the wolves could notreach it. Then, with the big pack on his back, he began thereturn. It was more weight than he would have liked to carry atan ordinary time, but now in his elation he scarcely felt it. Hewent rapidly up the slope and by the middle of the afternoon wasgoing down the other side.
As he approached the pine alcove he whistled a familiar tune,popular at the time--"Silver Threads Among the Gold." He knewthat Albert, if he were there--and he surely must be there--wouldrecognize his whistle and come forth. He stopped, and his hearthammered for a moment, but Albert's whistle took up the second lineof the air and Albert himself came forth jauntily.
"We win, Al, old boy!" called Dick. "Just look at this pack!"
"I can't look at anything else," replied Albert in the same joyfultones. "It's so big that I don't see you under it. Dick, haveyou robbed a treasure ship?"
"No, Al," replied Dick, very soberly. "I haven't robbed atreasure ship, but I've been prowling with success over a lostbattlefield--a ghoul I believe they call such a person, but ithad to be done. I've enough food here to last a week at least,and we may find more."
He put down his pack and took out the bacon. As Albert looked atit he began unconsciously to clinch and unclinch his teeth. Dicksaw his face, and, knowing that the same eager look was in hisown, he laughed a little.
"Al," he said, "you and I know now how wolves often feel, butwe're not going to behave like wolves. We're going to light afire and cook this bacon. We'll take the risk of the flame orsmoke being seen by Sioux. In so vast a country the chances areall in our favor."
They gathered up pine cones and other fallen wood, and with thehelp of the matches soon had a fire. Then they cut strips ofbacon and fried them on the ends of sharpened sticks, the sputtermaking the finest music in their ears.
Never before had either tasted food so delicious, and they atestrip after strip. Dick noticed with pleasure how the color cameinto Albert's cheeks, and how his eyes began to sparkle.Sleeping under the pines seemed to have benefited instead ofinjuring him, and certainly there was a wonderful healing balm inthe air of that pine-clad mountain slope. Dick could feel ithimself. How strong he was after eating! He shook his big shoulders.
"What are you bristling up about?" asked Albert.
"Merely getting ready to start again," replied Dick. "You know theold saying, Al, 'you've got to hit while the iron's hot.' Moretreasure is down there in the pass, but if we wait it won't staythere. Everything that we get now is worth more to us than diamonds."
"It's so," said Albert, and then he sighed sadly as he added,"How I wish I were strong enough to go with you and help!"
"Just you wait," said Dick. "You'll be as strong as a horse in amonth, and then you'll have to do all the work
They put out the fire, and while Albert withdrew into the pineshelter, Dick started again over the mountain. The sun wassetting blood red in the west, and in the east the shadows oftwilight were advancing. It required a new kind of courage toenter the pass in the night, and Dick's shudders returned. Atcertain times there is something in the dark that frightens thebravest and those most used to it.
Dick hurried. He knew the way down the mountain now, and afterthe food and rest he was completely refreshed. But as fast as hewent the shadows of twilight came faster, and when he reached thebottom of the mountain it was quite dark. The plain before himwas invisible, and the forest on the slope behind him was a solidrobe of black.
Dick set foot in the pass and then stopped. It was not dread butawe that thrilled him in every vein. He saw nothing before himbut the well of darkness that was the great slash in themountains. The wind, caught between the walls, moaned as in theday, and he knew perfectly well what if was, but it had all thenature of a dirge, nevertheless. Overhead a few dim starswavered in a dusky sky.
Dick forced himself to go on. It required now moral, as well asphysical, courage to approach that lost battlefield lying underits pall of night. Never was the boy a greater hero than at thatmoment. He advanced slowly. A bush caught him by the coat andheld him an instant. He felt as if he had been seized in a man'sgrasp. He reached the first wagon, and it seemed to him, brokenand rifled, an emblem of desolation. As he passed it a strange,low, whining cry made his backbone turn to ice. But he recoveredand forced an uneasy little laugh at himself. It was only awolf, the mean coyote of the prairies!
He came now into the space where the mass of the wagons and thefallen lay. Dark figures, low and skulking, darted away. Morewolves! But one, a huge timber wolf, with a powerful body andlong fangs, stood up boldly and stared at him with red eyes.Dick's own eyes were used to the darkness now, and he stared backat the wolf, which seemed to be giving him a challenge. He halfraised his rifle, but the monster did not move. It was astranger to guns, and this wilderness was its own.
It was Dick's first impulse to fire at the space between the redeyes, but he restrained it. He had not come there to fight withwolves, nor to send the report of a shot through the mountains.He picked up a stone and threw it at the wolf, striking him onthe flank. The monster turned and stalked sullenly away, showingbut little sign of fear. Dick pursued his task, and as he advancedsomething rose and, flapping heavily, sailed away. The shiver cameagain, but his will stopped it.
He was now in the center of the wreckage, which in the darknesslooked as if it had all happened long ago. Nearly every wagonhad been turned over, and now and then dark forms lay between thewheels. The wind moaned incessantly down the pass and over theruin.
Overcoming his repulsion, Dick went to work. The moon was nowcoming out and he could see well enough for his task. There wasstill much gleaning left by the quick raiders, and everything wouldbe of use to Albert and himself, even to the very gear on thefallen animals. He cut off a great quantity of this at once andput it in a heap at the foot of the cliff. Then he invaded thewagons and again brought forth treasures better than gold.
He found in one side box some bottles of medicine, the simpleremedies of the border, which he packed very carefully, and inanother he discovered half a sack of flour--fifty pounds,perhaps. A third rewarded him with a canister of tea and atwenty-pound bag of ground coffee. He clutched these treasureseagerly. They would be invaluable to Albert.
Continuing his search, he was rewarded with two pairs of heavyshoes, an ax, a hatchet, some packages of pins, needles, andthread, and a number of cooking utensils--pots, kettles, pans,and skillets. Just as he was about to quit for the purpose ofmaking up his pack, he noticed in one of the wagons a long,narrow locker made into the side and fastened with a stoutpadlock. The wagon had been plundered, but evidently the Siouxhad balked at the time this stout box would take for opening, andhad passed on. Dick, feeling sure that it must contain somethingof value, broke the padlock with the head of the ax. When helooked in he uttered a cry of delight at his reward.
He brought forth from the box a beautiful double-barreledbreech-loading shotgun, and the bounty of chance did not stopwith the gun, for in the locker were over a thousand cartridgesto fit it. Dick foresaw at once that it would be invaluable toAlbert and himself in the pursuit of wild ducks, wild geese,and other feathered game. He removed some of the articles fromhis pack, which was already heavy enough, and put the shotgunand cartridges in their place. Then he set forth on the returnjourney.
As he left the wagons and went toward the mouth of the pass, heheard soft, padding sounds behind him, and knew that the wolveswere returning, almost on his heels. He looked back once, andsaw a pair of fiery red eyes which he felt must belong to themonster, the timber wolf, but Dick was no longer under theuncanny spell of the night and the place; he was rejoicing toomuch in his new treasures, like a miser who has just added agreat sum to his hoard, to feel further awe of the wolves, thedarkness, and a new battlefield.
Dick's second pack was heavier than his first, but as before, hetrod lightly. He took a different path when he left the pass,and here in the moonlight, which was now much brighter, he sawthe trace of wheels on the earth. The trace ran off irregularlythrough the short bushes and veered violently to and fro like thepath of a drunken man. Dick inferred at once that it had beenmade, not by a wagon entering the pass, but by one leaving it,and in great haste. No doubt the horses or mules had beenrunning away in fright at the firing.
Dick's curiosity was excited. He wished to see what had becomeof that wagon. The trail continued to lead through the shortbushes that covered the plain just before entering the pass, andthen turned off sharply to the right, where it led to an abruptlittle canyon or gully about ten feet deep. The gully also waslined with bushes, and at first Dick could see nothing else, butpresently he made out a wagon lying on its side. No horses ormules were there; undoubtedly, they had torn themselves loosefrom the gear in time to escape the fall.
Dick laid down his pack and descended to the wagon. He believedthat in such a place it had escaped the plundering hands of thehasty Sioux, and his belief was correct. The wagon, a large one,was loaded with all the articles necessary for the passage of theplains. Although much tossed about by the fall, nothing washurt.
Here was a treasure-trove, indeed! Dick's sudden sense of wealthwas so overpowering that he felt a great embarrassment. How washe to take care of such riches? He longed at that moment for thestrength of twenty men, that he might take it all at once and goover the mountain to Albert.
It was quite a quarter of an hour before he was able to composehimself thoroughly. Then he made a hasty examination of thewagon, so far as its position allowed. He found in it a rifle ofthe same pattern as that used by Albert and himself, asixteen-shot repeater, the most advanced weapon of the time, anda great quantity of cartridges to fit. There was also two of thenew revolvers, with sufficient cartridges, another ax, hatchets,saws, hammers, chisels, and a lot of mining tools. The remainingspace in the wagon was occupied by clothing, bedding, provisions,and medicines.
Dick judged that the wolves could not get at the wagon as it lay,and leaving it he began his third ascent of the slope. He foundAlbert sound asleep in the pine alcove with his rifle besidehim. He looked so peaceful that Dick was careful not to awakenhim. He stored the second load of treasure in the alcove, and,wrapping one of the heavy blankets around himself, slept heavily.
He told Albert the next day of the wagon in the gully, andnothing could keep him from returning in the morning forsalvage. He worked there two or three days, carrying heavy loadsup the mountain, and finally, when it was all in their den, heand Albert felt equipped for a
Both boys felt that they had been remarkably fortunate while thiswork was going on. One circumstance, apparently simple initself, had been a piece of great luck, and that was the absenceof rain. It was not a particularly rainy country, but a showercould have made them thoroughly miserable, and, moreover, wouldhave been extremely dangerous for Albert. But nights and daysalike remained dry and cool, and as Albert breathed the marvelousbalsamic air he could almost feel himself transfused with itshealing property. Meanwhile, the color in his cheeks wassteadily deepening.
"We've certainly had good fortune," said Dick.
"Aided by your courage and strength," said Albert. "It took alot of nerve to go down there in that pass and hunt for what theSioux might have left behind."
Dick disclaimed any superior merit, but he said nothing of themany tremors that he felt while performing the great task.
An hour or two later, Albert, who was hunting through theirbelongings, uttered a cry of joy on finding a little package offishhooks. String they had among their stores, and it was easyenough to cut a slim rod for a pole.
"Now I can be useful for something besides cooking," he said."It doesn't require any great strength to be a fisherman, and I'mmuch mistaken if I don't soon have our table supplied withtrout."
There was a swift creek farther down the slope, and, angling withmuch patience, Albert succeeded in catching several mountaintrout and a larger number of fish of an unknown species, butwhich, like the trout, were very good to eat.
Albert's exploit caused him intense satisfaction, and Dickrejoiced with him, not alone because of the fish, but alsobecause of his brother's triumph.