"Me either. I'll fight first!"

With set faces the brothers urged their horses on. But now their pursuers had gained the turn, and were thundering down the second valley after them.

"Stop! stop!" yelled Morton.

Jed and Will returned no answer.

"If you don't halt we'll shoot!" added Haverhill.

"Do you suppose they will?" asked Jed's brother anxiously. "One of them has a revolver out," he added, as he gave a hasty backward glance.

"I don't believe so. They can't shoot very straight anyhow, with the way their horses and ours are going."

"Are you going to stop?" yelled Morton again.

"No!" cried Jed, as he urged his horse on down the mountain slope, while the pursuers came galloping on behind them.

CHAPTER XXI

WHAT HAPPENED TO GABE

When Gabe Harrison started up the mountain, with the intention of prospecting around a bit, seeking for indications of gold, he fully expected to be back within two hours. It was his idea that he might see signs of a lead which would be better than the one he and the boys were on.

Now if Gabe had had a horse that was used to mountain climbing several things in this story would not have happened. For a steed accustomed to scrambling over loose rocks, up steep slopes and down others still steeper, would have kept its footing, and not stumbled, as did Gabe's animal.

The old miner had ridden a few miles, and was convinced that no gold could be found in that direction. He was on the point of returning when something happened.

The horse stepped on a loose rock, on the edge of a gully, tried to recover its balance, in obedience to the frantic calls of Gabe, and his yankings on the bridle, and then pitched forward, throwing the old man off its back.

When Gabe recovered his senses, after many hours of unconsciousness, he found himself lying on the cold ground. He was quite wet with the dew, and lame and stiff. It was dark, and when he tried to move such a pain shot through his left leg that he had to lie quietly.

"Well, I wonder what in the world happened to me," said Gabe, speaking aloud. Then it came back to him, how his horse had stumbled with him, and how he had fallen into the gully, the last thing he remembered being when his head hit a stone.

"And I reckon I didn't hurt that rock as much as it hurt me," mused the old man, feeling of a large lump on the back of his head. "This is tough luck. My leg must be broken by the way it feels. Here I am, all alone in these mountains, and n.o.body knows where I am. Even the boys can't find me in this place."

He managed to get to a sitting position, moving cautiously because of his leg. Then he felt in his pocket and got a match, which he struck. By the glare of it he looked around. He saw nothing but a bowlder-strewn expanse. Then something moving, about a hundred feet away from him, attracted his attention.

"It's my horse!" he exclaimed. "If I can only get the animal over here, maybe I can crawl on his back and he'll take me to camp."

He called to the steed, but the animal gave no sign that it heard him.

It continued to crop what scanty herbage there was.

"I've got to crawl over to it," mused poor Gabe, "and how I'm going to do it with a busted leg is more than I know. But it's got to be done.

Something may happen to the boys. Here goes."

He started to crawl, but such an intense pain shot through his leg that it made him sick and faint. He leaned back against a big rock with a groan.

"No use!" he murmured. "I'm done for, I guess. Old Gabe Harrison has done his last prospecting. I'll die here--all alone. If I only knew the boys were safe!"

Then the pain and exhaustion brought a merciful insensibility. When Gabe opened his eyes again it was morning, and the sun was shining brightly.

The horse he had ridden, and which had been the innocent cause of his misfortune, was now farther off, having gone to a little stream to drink.

"Oh, how I wish I had some of that water," thought poor Gabe. "My throat is parched. I wonder if the horse won't come to me now?"

He called, but the animal only raised its head, looked at him, and went on feeding.

"I'm going to crawl and get a drink of water if it kills me!" exclaimed the miner. "Might as well die in comfort if I've got to go."

He moved his leg cautiously. To his surprise the pain was not so great as it had been. Then he felt of it. Though the limb was sore and tender no bones seemed to be broken.

"Guess it's only a bad strain," he said. "There's some chance for me, after all. I'll try to catch the horse."

It was hard work, crawling along a few feet at a time, stopping to rest every now and then, to ease the pain, but Gabe accomplished it. He reached the little mountain stream, and drank the cold water. That made him feel better, and a little later he managed to catch the horse, and pull himself up into the saddle. Fortunately the animal seemed to know that the man was wounded, and kept still until the miner was mounted.

"Now it isn't so bad," said Gabe, "though my leg does hurt like all possessed. But I guess I can get to camp, and the boys will take care of me for a while. I'll be as good as ever in a few days, as long as nothing's broken."

Cautiously guiding his horse, Gabe made his way down the mountain trail.

It took him twice as long to reach the camp as it had to make the journey the night before, but finally he came to where he had left the boys and their horses.

To his surprise neither of the lads were there, nor were their horses.

There was only some of the camp stuff, and the pack which Gabe had removed from his steed's back before setting off into the mountains.

"Well, this gets me!" he exclaimed. "Where can they have gone? I told them to stay here until I came back, and I'm sure they would, for they don't know the trail. Their horses are gone too. I wonder----"

A sudden idea coming to him, he slowly dismounted from his horse, and crawled to the stakes to which had been fastened the steeds of the two lads. The short ends of the ropes that remained showed they had been broken.

"Something's happened!" exclaimed Gabe. "Those horses have got loose while the boys were away. But why did Jed and Will go away? Could it have been to look for me? If so, why aren't they here now? It's too much for me. Lucky my pack is left. I'm half starved."

By slowly crawling about he managed to get himself a meal. He felt better after that, and, having made a closer examination of his injured leg, and finding there was only a strain, which was rapidly getting better, he prepared to make himself as comfortable as possible in camp.

But he was sorely puzzled at the absence of the boys, and he made up his mind, as soon as he could travel with more safety, that he would set off after them, if they did not return that night, which he hoped they would do. But night came, and Jed and Will did not come back. Much worried, Gabe prepared to spend the lonely dark hours in the deserted camp.

Meanwhile, Jed and Will were flying from the pursuing gamblers. As they went on along the valley, they found that the trail turned and went up the mountain.

"Shall we take it?" asked Will.

"Nothing else to do," replied Jed. "We can't stand and fight those scoundrels. The only thing to do is to keep on."

"But we may get lost in the mountains."

"That's happened already. We can't be much worse off that way. Neither of us know where we are, nor how to get back to camp. The only thing to do is to keep on. We may distance them, and we may strike a mining camp, where we can get help."

Still behind them came the desperate men who half guessed at the truth--that the boys had gold--and this gold the gamblers were determined to obtain.