Cabin Fever Page 7

  CHAPTER SEVEN. INTO THE DESERT

  If you want to know what mad adventure Bud found himself launched upon,just read a few extracts from the diary which Cash Markham, being amethodical sort of person, kept faithfully from day to day, until he cuthis thumb on a can of tomatoes which he had been cutting open with hisknife. After that Bud kept the diary for him, jotting down the mainhappenings of the day. When Cash's thumb healed so that he could hold apencil with some comfort, Bud thankfully relinquished the task. He hatedto write, anyway, and it seemed to him that Cash ought to trust hismemory a little more than he did.

  I shall skip a good many days, of course--though the diary did not, Iassure you.

  First, there was the outfit. When they had outfitted at Needles for thereal trip, Cash set down the names of all living things in this wise:

  Outfit, Cassius B. Markham, Bud Moore, Daddy a bull terrier, bay horse,Mars, Pete a sorrel, Ed a burro, Swayback a jinny, Maude a jack, Coraanother jinny, Billy a riding burro & Sways colt & Maude colt a whitemean looking little devil.

  Sat. Apr. 1.

  Up at 7:30. Snowing and blowing 3 ft. of snow on ground. Managed to getbreakfast & returned to bed. Fed Monte & Peter our cornmeal, poor thingshalf frozen. Made a fire in tent at 1:30 & cooked a meal. Much smoke,ripped hole in back of tent. Three burros in sight weathering fairlywell. No sign of let up everything under snow & wind a gale. Making outfairly well under adverse conditions. Worst weather we have experienced.

  Apr. 2.

  Up at 7 A.M. Fine & sunny snow going fast. Fixed up tent & cleaned upgenerally. Alkali flat a lake, can't cross till it dries. Stock somescattered, brought them all together.

  Apr. 3.

  Up 7 A.M. Clear & bright. Snow going fast. All creeks flowing. Finesunny day.

  Apr. 4.

  Up 6 A.M. Clear & bright. Went up on divide, met 3 punchers who saidroad impassable. Saw 2 trains stalled away across alkali flat. Veryboggy and moist.

  Apr.5.

  Up 5 A.M. Clear & bright. Start out, on Monte & Pete at 6. Animalstraveled well, did not appear tired. Feed fine all over. Plenty watereverywhere.

  Not much like Bud's auto stage, was it? But the very novelty of it, theharking back to old plains days, appealed to him and sent him forwardfrom dull hardship to duller discomfort, and kept the quirk at thecorners of his lips and the twinkle in his eyes. Bud liked to travelthis way, though it took them all day long to cover as much distance ashe had been wont to slide behind him in an hour. He liked it--this slow,monotonous journeying across the lean land which Cash had traversedyears ago, where the stark, black pinnacles and rough knobs of rockmight be hiding Indians with good eyesight and a vindictive temperament.Cash told him many things out of his past, while they poked along,driving the packed burros before them. Things which he never had setdown in his diary--things which he did not tell to any one save his fewfriends.

  But it was not always mud and rain and snow, as Cash's meager chroniclebetrays.

  May 6.

  Up at sunrise. Monte & Pete gone leaving no tracks. Bud found them3 miles South near Indian village. Bud cut his hair, did a good job.Prospector dropped into camp with fist full of good looking quartz.Stock very thirsty all day. Very hot Tied Monte & Pete up for night.

  May 8.

  Up 5:30. Fine, but hot. Left 7:30. Pete walked over a sidewinder & Budshot him ten ft. in air. Also prior killed another beside road. Feed asusual, desert weeds. Pulled grain growing side of track and fed plugs.Water from cistern & R.R. ties for fuel. Put up tent for shade. Flieshorrible.

  May 9.

  Up 4. Left 6. Feed as usual. Killed a sidewinder in a bush with 3 shotsof Krag. Made 21 m. today. R.R. ties for fuel Cool breeze all day.

  May 11.

  Up at sunrise. Bud washed clothes. Tested rock. Fine looking mineralcountry here. Dressed Monte's withers with liniment greatly reducingswelling from saddle-gall. He likes to have it dressed & came of his ownaccord. Day quite comfortable.

  May 15.

  Up 4. Left 6:30 over desert plain & up dry wash. Daddy suffered fromheat & ran into cactus while looking for shade. Got it in his mouth,tongue, feet & all over body. Fixed him up poor creature groaned allevening & would not eat his supper. Poor feed & wood here. Water foundby digging 2 ft. in sand in sandstone basins in bed of dry wash. Montelay down en route. Very hot & all suffered from heat.

  May 16.

  Bud has sick headache. Very hot so laid around camp all day. Put twoblankets up on tent pols for sun break. Daddy under weather from cactusexperience. Papago Indian boy about 18 on fine bay mare driving 4 ponieswatered at our well. Moon almost full, lots of mocking birds. Prettysongs.

  May 17.

  Up 7:30 Bud some better. Day promises hot, but slight breeze. Whitegauzy clouds in sky. Daddy better. Monte & Pete gone all day. Huntedtwice but impossible to track them in this stony soil Bud followedtrail, found them 2 mi. east of here in flat sound asleep about 3 P.M.At 6 went to flat 1/4 mi. N. of camp to tie Pete, leading Monte bybell strap almost stepped on rattler 3 ft. long. 10 rattles & a button.Killed him. To date, 1 Prairie rattler, 3 Diamond back & 8 sidewinders,12 in all. Bud feels better.

  May 18.

  At 4 A. M. Bud woke up by stock passing camp. Spoke to me who half awakehollered, "sic Daddy!" Daddy sicced 'em & they went up bank of wash toright. Bud swore it was Monte & Pete. I went to flat & found M. & P.safe. Water in sink all gone. Bud got stomach trouble. I threw up mybreakfast. Very hot weather. Lanced Monte's back & dressed it withcreoline. Turned them loose & away they put again.

  Soon after this they arrived at the place where Thompson had located hisclaim. It was desert, of course, sloping away on one side to a drearywaste of sand and weeds with now and then a giant cactus standinggloomily alone with malformed lingers stretched stiffly to the staringblue sky. Behind where they pitched their final camp--Camp 48, CashMarkham recorded it in his diary--the hills rose. But they were as starkand barren almost as the desert below. Black rock humps here and there,with ledges of mineral bearing rock. Bushes and weeds and dry washes forthe rest, with enough struggling grass to feed the horses and burros ifthey rustled hard enough for it.

  They settled down quietly to a life of grinding monotony that would havedriven some men crazy. But Bud, because it was a man's kind of monotony,bore it cheerfully. He was out of doors, and he was hedged about by norules or petty restrictions. He liked Cash Markham and he liked Pete,his saddle horse, and he was fond of Daddy who was still paying thepenalty of seeking too carelessly for shade and, according to Cash'srecord, "getting it in his mouth, tongue, feet & all over body." Budliked it--all except the blistering heat and the "side-winders"and other rattlers. He did not bother with trying to formulate anyexplanation of why he liked it. It may have been picturesque, thoughpicturesqueness of that sort is better appreciated when it is seenthrough the dim radiance of memory that blurs sordid details. Certainlyit was not adventurous, as men have come to judge adventure.

  Life droned along very dully. Day after day was filled with pettydetails. A hill looks like a mountain if it rises abruptly out of alevel plain, with no real mountains in sight to measure it by. Here'sthe diary to prove how little things came to look important because thedays held no contrasts. If it bores you to read it, think what it musthave been to live it.

  June 10.

  Up at 6:30 Baked till 11. Then unrigged well and rigged up an inclinefor the stock to water. Bud dressed Daddy's back. Stock did not come inall morning, but Monte & Pete came in before supper. Incline water shaftdoes not work. Prospected & found 8 ledges. Bud found none.

  June 11.

  After breakfast fixed up shack--shelves, benches, tools, etc. Cleanedguns. Bud dressed Daddy's back which is much better. Strong gold in testof ledge, I found below creek. Took more specimens to sample. Cora comesin with a little black colt newly born. Proud as a bull pup with twotails. Monte & Pete did not come in so we went by lantern light a mileor so down the wash & found them headed this way & snake them in todrink about 80 gallons
of water apiece. Daddy tied up and howling like ademon all the while. Bud took a bath.

  June 12.

  Bud got out and got breakfast again. Then started off on Pete to hunttrail that makes short cut 18 miles to Bend. Roofed the kitchen. Bud gotback about 1:30, being gone 6 hours. Found trail & two good ledges. Cora& colt came for water. Other burros did not. Brought in specimens fromledge up creek that showed very rich gold in tests. Burros came in at9:30. Bud got up and tied them up.

  June 13.

  Bud gets breakfast. I took Sway & brought in load of wood. Bud went outand found a wash lined with good looking ledges. Hung up white rags onbushes to identify same. Found large ledge of good quartz showing finein tests about one mile down wash. Bud dressed Daddy's back. Locateda claim west of Thompson's. Burros did not come in except Cora & colt.Pete & Monte came separated.

  June 14.

  Bud got breakfast & dressed Daddy's back. Very hot day. Stock came inabout 2. Tied up Billy Maud & Cora. Bud has had headache. Monte & Petedid not come in. Bud went after them & found them 4 miles away wherewe killed the Gila monster. Sent 2 samples from big ledge to Tucson forassay. Daddy better.

  June 15.

  Up 2.30. Bud left for Bend at 4. Walked down to flat but could not seestock. About 3 Cora & Colt came in for water & Sway & Ed from the southabout 5. No Monte. Monte got in about midnight & went past kitchen tocreek on run. Got up, found him very nervous & frightened & tied him up.

  June 17.

  Bud got back 4 P.M. in gale of wind & sand. Burros did not come in forwater. Very hot. Bud brought canned stuff. Rigged gallows for No.2 shaft also block & tackle & pail for drinking water, also washedclothes. While drying went around in cap undershirt & shoes.

  June 18.

  Burros came in during night for water. Hot as nether depths of infernalregions. Went up on hill a mile away. Seamed with veins similar to shaftNo. 2 ore. Blew in two faces & got good looking ore seamed with a blackincrustation, oxide of something, but what could not determine. Couldfind neither silver nor copper in it. Monte & Pete came in about 1 &tied them up. Very hot. Hottest day yet, even the breeze scorching. Testof ore showed best yet. One half of solution in tube turning to chlorideof gold, 3 tests showing same. Burros except Ed & Cora do not come indays any more. Bud made a gate for kitchen to keep burros out.

  The next morning it was that Cash cut the ball of his right thumb openon the sharp edge of a tomato can. He wanted the diary to go on asusual. He had promised, he said, to keep one for the widow who wanteda record of the way the work was carried on, and the progress made. Budcould not see that there had been much progress, except as a matter ofmiles. Put a speedometer on one of his legs, he told Cash, and he'd betit would register more mileage chasing after them fool burros than hisauto stage could show after a full season. As for working the widow'sclaim, it was not worth working, from all he could judge of it. And ifit were full of gold as the United States treasury, the burros took upall their time so they couldn't do much. Between doggone stock drinkingor not drinking and the darn fool diary that had to be kept, Bud opinedthat they needed an extra hand or two. Bud was peevish, these days. GilaBend had exasperated him because it was not the town it called itself,but a huddle of adobe huts. He had come away in the sour mood of athirsty man who finds an alkali spring sparkling deceptively under arock. Furthermore, the nights had been hot and the mosquitoes a hummingtorment. And as a last affliction he was called upon to keep the diarygoing. He did it, faithfully enough but in a fashion of his own.

  First he read back a few pages to get the hang of the thing. Then heshook down Cash's fountain pen, that dried quickly in that heat. Then heread another page as a model, and wrote:

  June 19.

  Mosquitoes last night was worse than the heat and that was worse thanGila Bend's great white way. Hunted up the burros. Pete and Monte camein and drank. Monte had colic. We fed them and turned them loose but theblamed fools hung around all day and eat up some sour beans I throwedout. Cash was peeved and swore they couldn't have another grain of feed.But Monte come to the shack and watched Cash through a knothole the sizeof one eye till Cash opened up his heart and the bag. Cash cut his thumbopening tomatoes. The tomatoes wasn't hurt any.

  June 20.

  Got breakfast. Bill and harem did not come to water. Cash done theregular hike after them. His thumb don't hurt him for hazing donkeys.Bill and harem come in after Cash left. They must of saw him go. Cashwas out four hours and come in mad. Shot a hidrophobia skunk out by thecreek. Nothing doing. Too hot.

  June 21.

  The sun would blister a mud turtle so he'd holler. Cash put in most ofday holding a parasol over his garden patch. Burros did not miss theirdaily drink. Night brings mosquitoes with their wings singed but theirstingers O.K. They must hole up daytimes or they would fry.

  June 22.

  Thought I know what heat was. I never did before. Cash took a bath. Itwas his first. Burros did not come to water. Cash and I tried to sleepon kitchen roof but the darned mosquitoes fed up on us and then playedheavenly choir all night.

  June 25.

  Cash got back from Bend. Thumb is better and he can have this job anytime now. He hustled up a widow that made a couple of mosquito bags togo over our heads. No shape (bags, not widow) but help keep flies andmosquitoes from chewing on us all day and all night. Training for hades.I can stand the heat as well as the old boy with the pitch-fork. Ain'tgot used to brimstone yet, but I'd trade mosquitoes for sulphur smokeand give some boot. Worried about Cash. He took a bath today again,using water I had packed for mine. Heat must be getting him.

  June 26.

  Cash opened up thumb again, trying to brain Pete with rock. Pete gothalfway into kitchen and eat biggest part of a pie I made. Cash threwjagged rock, hit Pete in side of jaw. Cut big gash. Swelled now likea punkin. Cash and I tangled over same. I'm going to quit. I have hadenough of this darn country. Creek's drying up, and mosquitoes havefound way to crawl under bags. Cash wants me to stay till we find goodclaim, but Cash can go to thunder.

  Then Cash's record goes on:

  June 27.

  Bud very sick & out of head. Think it is heat, which is terrible.Talked all night about burros, gasoline, & camphor balls which he seemedwanting to buy in gunny sack. No sleep for either. Burros came in forwater about daylight. Picketed Monte & Pete as may need doctor if Budgrows worse. Thumb nearly well.

  June 27. Bud same, slept most of day. Gave liver pills & made gruel ofcornmeal, best could do with present stores. Burros came at about 3 butcould not drink owing to bees around water hold. Monte got stung andkicked over water cans & buckets I had salted for burros. Burros put forhills again. No way of driving off bees.

  June 28.

  Burros came & drank in night. Cooler breeze, Bud some better & slept.Sway has badly swollen neck. May be rattler bite or perhaps bee. Budwanted cigarettes but smoked last the day before he took sick. Gave himmore liver pills & sponge off with water every hour. Best can do undercircumstances. Have not prospected account Bud's sickness.

  June 29.

  Very hot all day, breeze like blast from furnace. Burros refuse to leaveflat. Bees better, as can't fly well in this wind. Bud worse. High fever& very restless & flighty. Imagines much trouble with automobile, talkvery technical & can't make head or tail of it. Monte & Pete did notcome in, left soon as turned loose. No feed for them here & figured Budtoo sick to travel or stay alone so horses useless at present. Spongedfrequently with coolest water can get, seems to give some relief as heis quieter afterwards.

  July 4th.

  Monte & Pete came in the night & hung around all day. Drove them awayfrom vicinity of shack several times but they returned & moped in shadeof house. Terrible hot, strong gusty wind. Bud sat up part of day, sleptrest of time. Looks very thin and great hollows under eyes, but chieftrouble seems to be, no cigarettes. Shade over radishes & lettice worksall right. Watered copiously at daylight & again at dusk. Doing fine.Fixed fence which M & P. broke down while tramping around. Prospec
tedwest of ranche. Found enormous ledge of black quartz, looks likesulphur stem during volcanic era but may be iron. Strong gold & heavyprecipitate in test, silver test poor but on filtering showed like whiteof egg in tube (unusual). Clearing iron out showed for gold the highestyet made, being more pronounced with Fenosulphate than $1500 rock haveseen. Immense ledge of it & slightest estimate from test at least $10.Did not tell Bud as keeping for surprise when he is able to visit ledge.Very monotonous since Bud has been sick. Bud woke up & said Hell of aFourth & turned over & went to sleep again with mosquito net over headto keep off flies. Burros came in after dark, all but Cora & Colt, whicharrived about midnight. Daddy gone since yesterday morning leaving notrace.

  July 5.

  Miserable hot night. Burros trickled in sometime during night. Budbetter, managed to walk to big ledge after sundown. Suggests we call itthe Burro Lode. His idea of wit, claims we have occupied camp all summerfor sake of timing burros when they come to waterhole. Wish to callit Columbia mine for patriotic reasons having found it on Fourth. Willsettle it soon so as to put up location. Put in 2 shots & pulpel samplesfor assay. Rigged windows on shack to keep out bees, nats & flies &mosquitoes. Bud objects because it keeps out air as well. Took themoff. Sick folks must be humored. Hot, miserable and sleepless. Bud veryrestless.

  July 6.

  Cool wind makes weather endurable, but bees terrible in kitchen & aroundwater-hole. Flipped a dollar to settle name of big ledge. Bud won tails,Burro lode. Must cultivate my sense of humor so as to see the joke. Budagrees to stay & help develop claim. Still very weak, puttered aroundhouse all day cleaning & baking bread & stewing fruit which brought beesby millions so we could not eat same till after dark when they subsided.Bud got stung twice in kitchen. Very peevish & full of cuss. Sayspositively must make trip to Bend & get cigarettes tomorrow or will blowup whole outfit. Has already blowed up same several times today with nodamage. Burros came in about 5. Monte & Pete later, tied them up withgrain. Pete has very bad eye. Bud will ride Monte if not too hot fortrip. Still no sign of daddy, think must be dead or stolen though nobodyto steal same in country.

  July 7.

  Put in 2 shots on Burro Lode & got her down to required depth. Hot. Budfinds old location on widow's claim, upturns all previous calculation& information given me by her. Wrote letter explaining same, which Budwill mail. Bud left 4 P.M. should make Bend by midnight. Much better butstill weak Burros came in late & hung around water hole. Put up monumentat Burro Lode. Sent off samples to assay at Tucson. Killed rattler nearshack, making 16 so far killed.

  CHAPTER EIGHT. MANY BARREN MONTHS AND MILES

  "Well, here come them darn burros, Cash. Cora's colt ain't with 'emthough. Poor little devils--say, Cash, they look like hard sleddin', andthat's a fact. I'll tell the world they've got about as much pep as aflat tire."

  "Maybe we better grain 'em again." Cash looked up from studying thelast assay report of the Burro Lode, and his look was not pleasant. "Butit'll cost a good deal, in both time and money. The feed around here isplayed out."

  "Well, when it comes to that--" Bud cast a glum glance at the paper Cashwas holding.

  "Yeah. Looks like everything's about played out. Promising ledge, too.Like some people, though. Most all its good points is right on thesurface. Nothing to back it up."

  "She's sure running light, all right. Now," Bud added sardonically, butwith the whimsical quirk withal, "if it was like a carburetor, and youcould give it a richer mixture--"

  "Yeah. What do you make of it, Bud?"

  "Well--aw, there comes that durn colt, bringing up the drag. Say Cash,that colt's just about all in. Cora's nothing but a bag of bones, too.They'll never winter--not on this range, they won't."

  Cash got up and went to the doorway, looking out over Bud's shoulderat the spiritless donkeys trailing in to water. Beyond them the desertbaked in its rim of hot, treeless hills. Above them the sky glared abrassy blue with never a could. Over a low ridge came Monte and Pete,walking with heads drooping. Their hip bones lifted above their ridgedpaunches, their backbones, peaked sharp above, their withers were leanand pinched looking. In August the desert herbage has lost what littlesucculence it ever possessed, and the gleanings are scarce worth thewalking after.

  "They're pretty thin," Cash observed speculatively, as though he wasmeasuring them mentally for some particular need.

  "We'd have to grain 'em heavy till we struck better feed. And packlight." Bud answered his thought.

  "The question is, where shall we head for, Bud? Have you any particularidea?" Cash looked slightingly down at the assayer's report. "Suchas she is, we've done all we can do to the Burro Lode, for a year atleast," he said. "The assessment work is all done--or will be when wemuck out after that last shot. The claim is filed--I don't know whatmore we can do right away. Do you?"

  "Sure thing," grinned Bud. "We can get outa here and go some place whereit's green."

  "Yeah." Cash meditated, absently eyeing the burros. "Where it's green."He looked at the near hills, and at the desert, and at the dreary marchof the starved animals. "It's a long way to green country," he said.

  They looked at the burros.

  "They're tough little devils," Bud observed hopefully. "We could takeit easy, traveling when it's coolest. And by packing light, and grainingthe whole bunch--"

  "Yeah. We can ease 'em through, I guess. It does seem as though it wouldbe foolish to hang on here any longer." Carefully as he made his tests,Cash weighed the question of their going. "This last report kills anychance of interesting capital to the extent of developing the claim ona large enough scale to make it profitable. It's too long a haul to takethe ore out, and it's too spotted to justify any great investment inmachinery to handle it on the ground. And," he added with an undernoteof fierceness, "it's a terrible place for man or beast to stay in,unless the object to be attained is great enough to justify enduring thehardships."

  "You said a mouthful, Cash. Well, can you leave your seven radishes andthree hunches of lettuce and pull out--say at daybreak?" Bud turned tohim with some eagerness.

  Cash grinned sourly. "When it's time to go, seven radishes can't stopme. No, nor a whole row of 'em--if there was a whole row."

  "And you watered 'em copiously too," Bud murmured, with the cornersof his mouth twitching. "Well, I guess we might as well tie up thelivestock. I'm going to give 'em all a feed of rolled oats, Cash. Wecan get along without, and they've got to have something to put a littleheart in 'em. There's a moon to-night--how about starting alongabout midnight? That would put us in the Bend early in the forenoonto-morrow."

  "Suits me," said Cash. "Now I've made up my mind about going, I can't gotoo soon."

  "You're on. Midnight sees us started." Bud went out with ropes to catchand tie up the burros and their two saddle horses. And as he went, forthe first time in two months he whistled; a detail which Cash noted witha queer kind of smile.

  Midnight and the moon riding high in the purple bowl of sky sprinkledthick with stars; with a little, warm wind stirring the parched weeds asthey passed; with the burros shuffling single file along the dim trailwhich was the short cut through the hills to the Bend, Ed taking thelead, with the camp kitchen wabbling lumpily on his back, Cora bringingup the rear with her skinny colt trying its best to keep up, and withno pack at all; so they started on the long, long journey to the greencountry.

  A silent journey it was for the most part. The moon and the starrybowl of sky had laid their spell upon the desert, and the two men rodewordlessly, filled with vague, unreasoning regret that they must go.Months they had spent with the desert, learning well every littlevarying mood; cursing it for its blistering heat and its sand stormsand its parched thirst and its utter, blank loneliness. Loving it too,without ever dreaming that they loved. To-morrow they would face thefuture with the past dropping farther and farther behind. To-night itrode with them.

  Three months in that little, rough-walled hut had lent it an atmosphereof home, which a man instinctively responds to with a c
ertain clingingaffection, however crude may be the shelter he calls his own. Cashsecretly regretted the thirsty death of his radishes and lettuce whichhe had planted and tended with such optimistic care. Bud wondered ifDaddy might not stray half-starved into the shack, and find them gone.While they were there, he had agreed with Cash that the dog must bedead. But now he felt uneasily doubtful It would be fierce if Daddy didcome back now. He would starve. He never could make the trip to the Bendalone, even if he could track them.

  There was, also, the disappointment in the Burro Lode claim. As Budplanned it, the Burro was packing a very light load--far lighter thanhad seemed possible with that strong indication on the surface. Cash's"enormous black ledge" had shown less and less gold as they went intoit, though it still seemed worth while, if they had the capital todevelop it further. Wherefore they had done generous assessment workand had recorded their claim and built their monuments to mark itsboundaries. It would be safe for a year, and by that time--Quien sabe?

  The Thompson claim, too, had not justified any enthusiasm whatever. Theyhad found it, had relocated it, and worked out the assessment for thewidow. Cash had her check for all they had earned, and he had declaredprofanely that he would not give his share of the check for the wholeclaim.

  They would go on prospecting, using the check for a grubstake, That muchthey had decided without argument. The gambling instinct was wide awakein Bud's nature--and as for Cash, he would hunt gold as long as he couldcarry pick and pan. They would prospect as long as their money held out.When that was gone, they would get more and go on prospecting. Butthey would prospect in a green country where wood and water were notso precious as in the desert and where, Cash averred, the chance ofstriking it rich was just as good; better, because they could kill gameand make their grubstake last longer.

  Wherefore they waited in Gila Bend for three days, to strengthen theweakened animals with rest and good hay and grain. Then they tookagain to the trail, traveling as lightly as they could, with food forthemselves and grain for the stock to last them until they reachedNeedles. From there with fresh supplies they pushed on up to Goldfield,found that camp in the throes of labor disputes, and went on to Tonopah.

  There they found work for themselves and the burros, packing wintersupplies to a mine lying back in the hills. They made money at it,and during the winter they made more. With the opening of spring theyoutfitted again and took the trail, their goal the high mountains southof Honey Lake. They did not hurry. Wherever the land they traveledthrough seemed to promise gold, they would stop and prospect. Many a panof likely looking dirt they washed beside some stream where the burrosstopped to drink and feed a little on the grassy banks.

  So, late in June, they reached Reno; outfitted and went on again,traveling to the north, to the green country for which they yearned,though now they were fairly in it and would have stopped if any temptingledge or bar had come in their way. They prospected every gulch thatshowed any mineral signs at all. It was a carefree kind of life, withjust enough of variety to hold Bud's interest to the adventuring. Thenomad in him responded easily to this leisurely pilgrimage. There was nostampede anywhere to stir their blood with the thought of quick wealth.There was hope enough, on the other hand, to keep them going. Cash hadprospected and trapped for more than fifteen years now, and he preachedthe doctrine of freedom and the great outdoors.

  Of what use was a house and lot--and taxes and trouble with theplumbing? he would chuckle. A tent and blankets and a frying panand grub; two good legs and wild country to travel; a gold pan and apick--these things, to Cash, spelled independence and the joy of living.The burros and the two horses were luxuries, he declared. When they oncegot located on a good claim they would sell off everything but a coupleof burros--Sway and Ed, most likely. The others would bring enough for awinter grubstake, and would prolong their freedom and their independencejust that much. That is, supposing they did not strike a good claimbefore then. Cash had learned, he said, to hope high but keep an eye onthe grubstake.

  Late in August they came upon a mountain village perched beside a swiftstream and walled in on three sided by pine-covered mountains. A branchrailroad linked the place more or less precariously with civilization,and every day--unless there was a washout somewhere, or a snowslide,or drifts too deep--a train passed over the road. One day it would goup-stream, and the next day it would come back. And the houses stooddrawn up in a row alongside the track to watch for these passings.

  Miners came in with burros or with horses, packed flour and bacon andtea and coffee across their middles, got drunk, perhaps as a partingceremony, and went away into the hills. Cash watched them for a day orso; saw the size of their grubstakes, asked few questions and listenedto a good deal of small-town gossip, and nodded his head contentedly.There was gold in these hills. Not enough, perhaps, to start a stampedewith--but enough to keep wise old hermits burrowing after it.

  So one day Bud sold the two horses and one of the saddles, and Cashbought flour and bacon and beans and coffee, and added other thingsquite as desirable but not so necessary. Then they too went away intothe hills.

  Fifteen miles from Alpine, as a cannon would shoot; high up in thehills, where a creek flowed down through a saucerlike basin underbeetling ledges fringed all around with forest, they came, after muchwandering, upon an old log cabin whose dirt roof still held in spite ofthe snows that heaped upon it through many a winter. The ledge showedthe scars of old prospect holes, and in the sand of the creek they found"colors" strong enough to make it seem worth while to stop here--forawhile, at least.

  They cleaned out the cabin and took possession of it, and the next timethey went to town Cash made cautious inquiries about the place. It was,he learned, an old abandoned claim. Abandoned chiefly because the oldminer who had lived there died one day, and left behind him all themarks of having died from starvation, mostly. A cursory examination ofhis few belongings had revealed much want, but no gold save a littlecoarse dust in a small bottle.

  "About enough to fill a rifle ca'tridge," detailed the teller of thetale. "He'd pecked around that draw for two, three year mebby. Nevershowed no gold much, for all the time he spent there. Trapped some inwinter--coyotes and bobcats and skunks, mostly. Kinda off in the upperstory, old Nelson was. I guess he just stayed there because he happenedto light there and didn't have gumption enough to git out. Hills is fullof old fellers like him. They live off to the'rselves, and peck aroundand git a pocket now and then that keeps 'm in grub and tobacco. If youwant to use the cabin, I guess nobody's goin' to care. Nelson never hadany folks, that anybody knows of. Nobody ever bothered about takin' upthe claim after he cashed in, either. Didn't seem worth nothin' much.Went back to the gov'ment."

  "Trapped, you say. Any game around there now?"

  "Oh, shore! Game everywhere in these hills, from weasels up to bear andmountain lion. If you want to trap, that's as good a place as any, Iguess."

  So Cash and Bud sold the burros and bought traps and more supplies, andtwo window sashes and a crosscut saw and some wedges and a double-bittedaxe, and settled down in Nelson Flat to find what old Dame Fortune hadtucked away in this little side pocket and forgotten.