They had been walking most of the time, allowing their animals to follow, which both horses and mules did, not only through long training but because they had become used to the companionship of men. The three might have abandoned them, escaping pursuit in the almost inaccessible mazes of the mountains, but no such thought entered their minds. The horses and mules not only carried their supplies, chief among which being the ammunition, but also the tools with which to work the mine, and then, in Will's mind at least, they and more of them would be needed to bring back to civilization the tons of gold.

They were now in a fairly level, though narrow, valley, and all three of them were riding. Once more they saw far behind them smoke signals rising, and Boyd felt sure that the Sioux somehow had blundered upon the trail anew. Then he and the Little Giant spoke together earnestly.

"The longest way 'roun' is sometimes the shortest way through," said Giant Tom. "It's no plains for us, not fur many days to come. I'm thinkin' that what we've got to do is to keep on goin' deeper an' deeper into the mountains, an' higher an' higher, too, plum' up among them glaciers, whar the Sioux won't keer to foller. Then, when we winter a while thar we kin turn back toward the plains an' our search."

"Looks like good reasoning to me," said Boyd. "As I told the boy here, once, we're richer in time than anything else. We must make for the heights. What say you, Will?"

"I'm learning patience," replied the lad. "It's better to wait than to spill all the beans at once. Let's head straight for the glaciers."

Will felt that there was something terrible about the Sioux pursuit. He was beginning to realize to the full the power of Indian tenacity, and he was anxious to shake off the warriors, no matter how high they had to go. He knew nothing of the region about them, but he had heard that mountains in many portions of the West rose to a height of nearly three miles. He could well believe it, as he looked north and south to tremendous peaks with white domes, standing like vast, silent sentinels in the sky. They were majestic to him, but not terrifying, because they held out the promise of safety.

"If the worst came to the worst, could we live up there on one of those slopes, a while?" he asked.

"Do you mean by that could we find game enough?" said Boyd.

"Game and shelter both."

"We could. Like as not the mountain deer are plentiful. And there's a kind of buffalo called the wood bison, even bigger than the regular buffalo of the plains, not often found south of Canada, but to be met with now and then in our country. We might run across one of them, and he'd supply meat enough to feed an army. Besides, there are bears and deer and smaller game. Oh, we'd make out, wouldn't we, Tom?"

"We sh.o.r.ely would," replied the Little Giant, "but between you an' me an' the gate post, Jim, I think I see somethin' movin' on the slope acrost thar to the right. Young William, take your gla.s.ses an' study that spot whar the bushes are so thick."

"I can just barely make out the figures of men among the bushes,"

announced Will, after a good look.

"Then they're Indians," said Boyd with emphasis. "You wouldn't find white men lurking here in the undergrowth. It's a fresh band, hunters maybe, but dangerous just the same. We'd better push on for all we're worth."

They urged forward the horses and mules, seeking cover in the deep forest along the slope, but without success, as a faint yell soon told them. At the suggestion of Boyd, they stopped and examined the ground.

The way was steadily growing steeper and more difficult, and the warriors, who were on foot could make greater speed than the fugitives.

"Lend me your gla.s.ses a minute, young William," said the Little Giant.

But he did not turn the lenses upon the Indians. Instead, he looked upward.

"Thar's a narrow pa.s.s not fur ahead," he said. "I think we'd better draw into it an' make a stand. The pa.s.s is deep, an' they can't a.s.sail us on either flank. It will have to be a straight-away attack."

"That's lucky, mighty lucky," said Boyd with heartfelt thankfulness.

"Will, you push on with the animals, and maybe if you look back you'll see that what I told you about Giant Tom's sharpshooting is true."

Will hurried the horses and mules ahead, following a shallow dip that was the outlet of the deep pa.s.s they were seeking. Behind them he heard again the yells of the Indian warriors, hopeful now of an unexpected triumph. He saw their figures emerging from cover and he judged that they were at least twenty in number. He saw also that the Little Giant had stopped and was looking at the pursuers with a speculative eye, while his repeating rifle lay easily in the hollow of his arm. Then he urged the animals on and presently he looked back a second time.

He was just in time to see the breech of the rifle leap to the Little Giant's shoulder. "Leap" was the only word to describe it, his action was so swift and so little time did he waste in taking aim. It all pa.s.sed in an instant, as he pulled the trigger, and the foremost Indian far down the slope threw up his arms, falling backward without a cry. In another instant he pulled the trigger again and another Indian fell beside the first. The whole band stopped, uttered a tremendous cry of rage, and then darted into the undergrowth for cover.

"Two," said Boyd. "Didn't I tell you, Will, that he was a wonder with the rifle?"

"I had to do it. I call you both to witness that I had to do it," said the Little Giant in a melancholy voice. "I'm a hunter o' gold an' not properly a killer o' men, even o' savage men. An' yet I find no gold, but I do kill. Sometimes I'm sorry that I happened to be born jest a natcherly good shot. I reckon we'd better whoop up our speed ez much ez we kin now, 'cause after that lesson they'll hang back a while afore follerin'."

"That's good generalship," said Boyd.

Will was already urging forward the animals, which, frightened by the shots, were making speed of their own accord toward the pa.s.s. The hunter and the Little Giant followed at a more leisurely gait, with their rifles ready to beat off pursuit. Some shots were fired from the bushes, but they fell short, and the two laughed in disdain.

"They'll have to do a lot better than that, won't they, Giant?" said the hunter.

"A powerful sight better, but they'll hope to slip up on us in the dark.

It hurts my feelin's to hev to shoot any more of 'em, or to shoot anybody, but I'm afeard I'll hev to do it, Jim Boyd, afore we git through with this here piece o' business."

"In that case, Giant, just let your feelings go and shoot your best."

Will still led on, and, though his heart beat as hard as ever, it was more from the exertion of climbing than from apprehension. He had seen the two wonderful shots of the Little Giant, he knew what a wonderful marksman Boyd was also, and he felt since they were within the shelter of the pa.s.s, their three rifles might keep off any number of Sioux.

The shallow gully up which they were travelling now narrowed rapidly, and soon they were deep in the looming shadow of the pa.s.s, which seemed to end blindly farther on. But for the present it was a Heaven-sent refuge. At one point, where it widened somewhat, the horses and mules could stand, and there was even a little gra.s.s for them. A rill of water from the high rocks was a protection against what they had to fear most of all, thirst, and the three human beings in turn drank freely from it, letting the animals follow.

Boyd deftly tethered the horses and mules to bushes that grew at the foot of the cliff in the wide s.p.a.ce, and then he joined the other two, who, lying almost flat, were watching at the entrance to the pa.s.s. The rocks there also gave them fine protection, and they felt they had reached a fort which would test all the ingenuity, patience and courage of the Sioux.

Will drew back behind a stony upthrust, sat up and used his gla.s.ses, searching everywhere among the rocks and bushes down the pa.s.s.

"What do you see, Young William?" asked the Little Giant.

"Nothing yet, Tom, except the bushes, the stones and the slopes of the mountains far across the valley."

"Nor you won't see nothin' fur some time. Took to cover, they hev. An' I don't blame 'em, either. We wouldn't be anxious ourselves to walk up ag'inst the mouths o' rifles that don't miss, an' Indians, bein' smart people, don't risk their lives when thar's nothin' to be gained."

"Then how are they going to get at us?"

"Not straight-away, but by means o' tricks."

"What tricks?"

"I don't know. Ef they wuz so plain ez all that they wouldn't be tricks.

We'll hev to be patient."

All three of them drew back into the mouth of the pa.s.s, where they found abundant shelter behind the stony outcrops, while the Sioux, who lay hidden in the undergrowth farther down the slope, would be compelled to advance over open ground, if they made a rush. Young Clarke's confidence grew. That wonderful sharpshooting feat of the Little Giant was still in his mind. In such a position and with such marksmen as Boyd and Bent, they could not be overwhelmed.

"Take them gla.s.ses o' yourn, young William," said the Little Giant, "an'

see ef you can pick out any o' the Sioux down the slope."

Will was able to trace three or four warriors lying down among the short cedars, apparently waiting with illimitable patience for any good idea that might suggest itself. The others, though out of sight, were certainly near and he was wondering what plan might occur to them.

"Do you think it likely that they know the pa.s.s?" he asked Boyd.

"Hardly," replied the hunter. "They are mountain Sioux, but on the whole they prefer the plains."

"Maybe they think then that they can wait, or at least hold us until we are overcome by thirst!"

"No, the little stream of water breaks a way down the slope somewhere, and when they find it they'll know that it comes from the pa.s.s. I think they'll attack, but just how and when is more'n I can say. Now, Will, will you go back where the animals are and cook us a good supper, including coffee? When you're besieged it's best to keep yourself well fed and strong. I saw plenty of dead wood there, tumbled from the cliffs above."

Young Clarke, knowing that he was not needed now at the mouth of the pa.s.s, was more than glad to undertake the task, since waiting was hard work.

He found the horses and mules lying down, and they regarded him with large, contemplative eyes as he lighted the fire and began to cook supper. The animals were on the best of terms, const.i.tuting a happy family, and the eyes with which they regarded Will seemed to him to be the eyes of wisdom.