For a moment all stood staring blankly into one another's faces. No one appeared to be in the least anxious to make this sacrifice. And no wonder! For, now at the very moment they were about to explore the mysteries of the dead miner's wonderful Cave of Gold, who would care to be left behind? Then, with a smile on his face, Frank Holt stepped forth.

"Reckon I'll stay and keep company with Pedro," he said. "I'm not as young as I once was, and crawling along that limb some twenty feet above the ground looks some dangerous to legs as old as mine. But I'd like to have one of you, if you find the cave all right, come and let me know," and the sparkle in his eyes told how great was his interest in the result.

"I'll come right back and relieve you, dad, just as soon as we find the cave and see what it is like," Rex Holt promised. "Then you can go and see for yourself. It was great of you to offer to stay. I'll be back soon. Good-by," and he hurried after the others, who were already climbing the Big Tree.

Pedro, all the morning, had been as feverish with excitement as had any of the others, and had watched their every movement, as a cat watches a caught mouse, and had tried to overhear every word uttered; but, at the first mention of a guard being left with him, he had muttered a Mexican oath and had turned angrily and sullenly away, all his excitement gone. Evidently he had counted a great deal on being left alone with the horses and the camp supplies, when the search for the Cave of Gold was made; and, consequently, the leaving of a guard with him had been a very great disappointment. But he was too cunning to allow this disappointment to be seen by his employers, and had turned quickly away to hide his feelings, until he was again his usual suave self; and so he did not hear the promise of Rex to hasten back as soon as the cave was found and relieve his father.

You may be sure that there were no laggards among the climbers up the Big Tree and along the limb and through the entrance into Crooked Arm Gulch; and soon all stood on the little shelf of rock, from which they had had their first view of the gulch the night before.

"Now, th' first thing tew dew is tew git down tew th' bottom," commented Ham, as the eyes of all eagerly searched the walls of the gulch.

"That looks easy! Right this way!" and Thure began excitedly clambering down the rocks.

The shelf of rock on which they stood was some fifty feet above the bottom of the gulch; and from it a series of shelves and jutting rocks made an easy pathway downward, for mountaineers as experienced as they were, and soon all our friends stood at the bottom of Crooked Arm Gulch.

"Now for the Golden Elbow!" shouted Thure. "I want to be the first one in the Cave of Gold," and he started up the gulch as fast as he could go, jumping and climbing over the rocks that nearly covered its bottom.

"Same here!" and, with a yell, Bud started after him.

In a moment all, even the gray-haired men, had joined madly in the race. Evidently Thure was not the only one who wished to be the first in the Cave of Gold.

The gulch was narrow, only about a couple of rods wide at the place where our friends had reached the bottom, and, some three hundred yards from here, it made a turn, like the crook in a man's bent arm. This was evidently the Golden Elbow, and the point for which all were racing.

Thure, owing to his start and his long legs, was the first to reach this spot, but Bud was not six feet behind him. Then came Rex and Dill and the others, with Dickson and his wife pantingly bringing up the rear. All had stopped directly in front of the point of the turn, and now stood staring excitedly around them, looking for the entrance to the Cave of Gold and looking in vain.

In front of them the wall of the gulch had been hollowed out into a great overhanging arch, seventy-five or more feet in height and some fifteen feet deep.

Could this be the miner's Cave of Gold?

Surely not; for there was no need of torch here, and the bottom certainly was not covered with gold nuggets, but with hundreds of pieces of broken rock, some of them as large as two strong men could lift.

"Wal, I swun, if it don't look as if we was up ag'in it ag'in," and Ham stared excitedly around. "But, if thar is any cave here, it must be right in thar. Come, git busy," and he began clambering over the rocks toward the back wall of the arch. "I'll bet a coonskin that I can find it first."

"Take you!" shouted Thure and Bud, both clambering swiftly after him.

In a minute more all were searching excitedly for the hidden entrance to the cave, along the entire back wall of the arch; but the rocks of the bottom seemed to meet a solid wall of rock at the back.

"Say, but isn't it enough to make even a Job swear to be held up like this, right at the most exciting moment!" and Thure stopped in front of a large flat rock, that had fallen so that it stood nearly on edge, leaning against the back wall of the arch. "Come, give me a hand; and let's see what is behind this rock," and he turned to Bud, who stood near him. "It looks almost as if it might have been stood up there on purpose."

In a moment the strong arms of the two boys were tugging at the huge slab of rock; and, at last, with a mighty effort, they pulled it away from the wall and toppled it over backward, and it fell, with a crash, on the rocks between them, revealing a black opening in the solid rock.

"Hurrah!" yelled Bud.

"Found!" shouted Thure; and both excited boys made a dive for the hole, with the result that their bodies stuck tightly in the opening, the hole not being large enough to accommodate the entrance of both of them at the same time.

Ham and Mr. Conroyal pulled them out; and then Ham thrust his big body into the opening—he could just squeeze in—and began cautiously working his way forward. It was not a venture for an excited boy to make, the entrance into that black hole without a light.

In about five minutes Ham came backing hurriedly out.

"Who's got th' candles?" he cried excitedly. "Thar sart'in is a cave in thar; but it is as dark as the bottomless pit. We must have lights before we can enter. Give me a candle."

"Here, here they are!" and Mr. Conroyal who in the excitement of the moment had forgotten the package of a couple of dozen candles he had tied up and slung over his back just before climbing the tree that morning, quickly swung the package down on a rock in front of him and cut the strings.

Ham caught up one of the candles, and, hurriedly lighting it, again crawled into the hole, holding the candle out in front of him.

Thure and Bud both caught up candles and lighting them, looked imploringly at their fathers.

Both men nodded, and the boys dove into the hole; but this time separately.

"The rest of us had better wait outside until we hear from Ham and the boys," Mr. Conroyal said, staring anxiously into the hole.

For perhaps ten minutes, although to the anxious and excited watchers outside it seemed more like an hour, not a sound came from the hole into whose black depths the three men had vanished. Even the lights of their candles had disappeared. Then, suddenly, the excited voice of Thure was heard, booming out through the hole.

"It's the cave, the Cave of Gold!" he cried exultantly, his voice trembling with excitement. "Come in, all of you. There is room for all. I will hold my candle so that you can see."

"Here, Dickson, you go first, and, Mollie, you follow right behind him," and Mr. Conroyal pushed Mr. and Mrs. Dickson excitedly toward the cave opening, and motioned Rex and Dill and Mr. Randolph to follow them, he himself entering last.

The hole slanted downward for some ten feet, then, enlarging a little, turned to the right and ran straight ahead for some thirty feet, still slanting quite steeply downward, when it suddenly opened out into a large chamber, worn by the action of water, apparently, out of the solid rock.

In five minutes all our excited friends stood in this chamber or cave and were staring wonderingly around them. They found themselves in a room, some thirty feet long by twenty feet wide at the widest, with an oval slanting roof, shaped something like the inverted quarter of an egg-shell. The bottom of the cave was level and composed of a very coarse gravel, mixed with little rounded chunks of a yellowish metal, that glowed in the light of the candles like thousands of dull yellow coals of fire.

In an instant everybody was down on their knees examining these chunks of metal. For a couple of minutes no one spoke. Then Ham lifted his head and looked slowly around him, as if he were trying to convince himself that he was really awake.

"Gosh!" he said, in a voice hardly above a whisper. "It is gold!"

"It is gold!" and Mr. Conroyal looked up, his face white and his eyes shining. "It is gold; and enough of it to make us all rich beyond our fondest dreams. No wonder the miner called it the Cave of Gold."



"Gold! Gold! Now Ruth shall have her breastpin nugget and gold necklace!" and Thure, with hands that trembled so that he could hardly hold the candle, began an excited search for the largest chunk of gold that he could find. In two minutes he had found one about the size and the shape of a robin's egg. "The very thing!" he cried. "That will make a magnificent breastpin," and he quickly picked it up and began searching for the nuggets to go into the promised necklace.

During this time Bud was quickly gathering up the largest nuggets he could find; for a similar purpose but for a different girl; and the fingers of all the others were busy in the same exciting way.

For half an hour all forgot everything, but the shining pellets that covered the bottom of the cave. Then Rex suddenly straightened up.

"Great Washington! I'm forgetting dad!" he exclaimed. "I must go to dad at once," and he started for the hole that gave passageway to the outer world.

Naturally Rex was greatly excited and made all possible haste to get back to his father with the good news. The distance was not great, and in ten minutes he had reached the hidden entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch, and, hurriedly crawling through the narrow opening, he pushed the concealing branches aside—and found himself looking directly into the red face of Bill Ugger.

"God in heaven!" and Rex struck out with all the strength of his strong right arm.

The face was not three feet away and the blow landed squarely on the broken nose. There was a low cry, the crash of broken branches, and the huge body of Bill Ugger plunged downward from the limb.

For an instant Rex stared blankly after the body; and then, suddenly realizing the value of every moment, if they would not all be caught in a trap from which there would be no escape, he whirled about and raced back to the Cave of Gold, almost wild with the thought of what might happen, if the gang of robbers should capture their horses and supplies and hold them captive in Crooked Arm Gulch, as they could easily do, once they secured possession of the Big Tree. Then there was his father. What had happened to him? No wonder his face went white, and he risked limb and life a dozen times in his mad scramble down the rocks and up the gulch and into the opening of the Cave of Gold.

"Quick! Everybody, back to the Big Tree!" he shouted, as he plunged into the cave, where our excited friends were still busily picking up the nuggets. "The robbers! They have got dad! Quick!" and he whirled about and rushed back.

In an instant the gold was forgotten. Every man jumped for his rifle, which had been left near the entrance to the cave, and sprang after Rex, leaving the startled and frightened Mrs. Dickson to follow as best she could.

There was not one of them but understood on the instant the seriousness of their peril. If the robbers secured their horses and supplies and held the entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch, they would be absolutely at their mercy; for, so far as they knew, the only way out of the gulch was by way of the Big Tree, and half a dozen men, armed with rifles, could hold this narrow opening against their most desperate efforts to get out, and in a few days, could starve them into surrender, for they had no food with them. They must at all costs, if it was not already too late, keep the entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch from falling into the hands of the robbers.

Hammer Jones, by desperate efforts, reached the side of Rex, just as he was about to plunge into the passageway between Crooked Arm Gulch and Lot's Canyon; and one of his great hands closed down on the excited man's shoulder just in time to stop the reckless act.

"Cautious! Cautious!" warned Ham, as he jerked Rex back. "If them skunks have got th' camp, 'twill be death to sot foot on that big limb."

"But, dad—"

"'Twon't help him none for you tew git killed. I'll take a look first," and the great strength of Ham forced Rex back, while he himself began cautiously, yet rapidly, crawling through the narrow opening.

In a moment he had reached the limb of the Big Tree, and, carefully parting the branches so as to make no noise, he cautiously looked down.

The camp had been pitched under the Big Tree almost directly beneath him; and the first look showed him everything apparently safe and undisturbed. The next look—and, with the cry: "Come on, everybody, as quick as th' Lord will let you," he sprang out on the limb and began working his way down the tree so recklessly that more than once he was in danger of falling. The moment he reached the ground he leaped toward an object that lay tightly bound up in a blanket on the ground near the trunk of the tree; and, with a swift hand began cutting the ropes that were tightly wound around it from head to foot, in a manner exactly similar to that in which they had found Mrs. Dickson on the night she had been so mysteriously bound in her tent.

By the time Rex had reached his side he had uncovered Frank Holt, with his hands bound behind him and a gag in his mouth, but otherwise unhurt, except for a big lump on the back of his head. In a moment more Rex had pulled the gag out of his father's mouth and Ham had freed his hands.

"Pedro!" Holt gasped and staggered a little dizzily to his feet. "He struck me down from behind, and tied and gagged me, as you found me. Where is Pedro?" and he looked excitedly and a bit wildly around. "Ah, now I remember," and his face cleared. "He has gone for the rest of the gang. I overheard him and another man, after I had recovered my senses and lay tightly bound up in the blanket, planning how he would go and get the rest of the gang, while the other man climbed the tree and kept guard over the narrow opening. Their plan was to capture the camp and hold the Big Tree, so that none of you could get out of Crooked Arm Gulch, and then starve you into surrendering everything; and they came mighty nigh doing it," and he glanced anxiously down the canyon. "They'll be due in about half an hour, I judge from what I overheard. They were not calculating on any of you getting back so soon," and he smiled grimly.

"But that other man? Where is that other man?" and Mr. Conroyal—by this time all, even Mrs. Dickson, had made their way down the Big Tree—looked anxiously around.

Rex started and glanced quickly toward the wall of the canyon, directly under the opening to Crooked Arm Gulch; and then his face cleared.

"I reckon that's him," and he pointed to a huddled heap that lay on the rocks. "I knocked him off the limb of the Big Tree. But, we had better make sure he is where he can do no harm," and he hurried to the body. "Dead as a stone. Neck broken," he declared, as he turned the corpse over.

"Broken-nose! It's Broken-nose!" and Thure, who had hurried up with Rex, started back, as the man's face came into view.

"Wal, th' world's better off by havin' one less scoundrel in it," and Ham scowled down on the face of Bill Ugger, ugly and repulsive even in death. "Now," and he turned quickly to Holt, "didn't you say that thar Mexican skunk, Pedro, had gone tew git th' rest of th' gang?"

"Yes," answered Holt; "and we must be ready for them, when they get here. They are camped down near the Devil's Slide; and I calculate it will take them about half an hour yet to get here."

"An' the skunks are a-calculatin' on findin' th' camp unguarded?" and Ham's eyes began to twinkle brightly.

"Yes, I heard Pedro tell the other fellow that he felt quite sure none of us would be back for two hours or more; but, to make things safe, Brokennose, as Thure calls him, said he'd climb the tree and knock the head off anyone that tried to come through the narrow opening into Crooked Arm Gulch. I reckon Rex got there just at the right moment to spoil that little game."

"I certainly did," and Rex smiled grimly. "A minute later, and he would have got me, instead of my getting him. But, we must be getting ready for the return of Pedro," and his eyes glanced anxiously down the canyon.

"Say," and Ham turned to Conroyal, "why can't we give them th' same kind of a s'prise they was a-calculatin' on givin' us? They ain't expectin' tew find us here, an' will come a rushin' up unsuspicious-like, an', if we hide, we can give 'em a mighty warm reception a-fore they know what's happenin'."

"Bully! Where'll we hide?" and Mr. Conroyal glanced eagerly around. "There, those rocks will be just the place," and he pointed up the canyon to where a row of big rocks stood up, almost like a rampart, something like a hundred feet from the Big Tree. "Now we must leave the camp looking just as it was when Pedro left it. Here, somebody, quick, we'll tie the body of Ugger up in the blanket, and leave it where we found Frank. That will sure fool them," and he hurried to where the corpse of Ugger lay; and, in a few minutes, the body was tightly bound up in a blanket and laid down on the exact spot where Ham had found Holt.

"All got plenty of powder and lead?" and Mr. Conroyal glanced swiftly from man to man.

All answered in the affirmative.

"Then get behind the rocks," and, with a final look around the camp to see that every suspicious sign had been removed, Mr. Conroyal led his little company to the rocky rampart to await the coming of Pedro and the band of robbers; and soon all had vanished from the sight of anyone coming up the canyon.

In front of them and the Big Tree there was a space some three hundred feet wide, clear of trees or underbrush or rocks large enough to shield a man.

"We will wait for them until they get out into the open," Mr. Conroyal said, pointing to this space. "Now everybody see that his rifle and pistols and knife are ready; and remember to keep down out of sight and on no account to fire until I give the word."

They did not have long to wait; for hardly had Mr. Conroyal uttered his last words of warning, when they saw Pedro coming around the bend in the canyon some two hundred yards below them. At first Pedro advanced very cautiously, darting from rock to rock and keeping his body concealed as much as possible; but, at last, coming to where he could get a clear view of the camp and seeing nothing to awaken his suspicions, he appeared to be satisfied that all was safe and turned and began beckoning excitedly with both his hands. In response a little company of heavily armed men instantly sprang into sight, coming from around the bend in the canyon, and hurried up to where Pedro stood awaiting them.

For two or three minutes they stood there, while Pedro, gesticulating excitedly and frequently pointing toward the quiet-seeming little camp under the Big Tree, appeared to be explaining the situation to them. Then all began advancing cautiously, yet rapidly toward the Big Tree, taking advantage of the rocks and trees and bushes to conceal their movements as much as possible.

"Here they come!" whispered Thure excitedly to Bud, as the men began their advance. He had his eye to a little opening between the two adjoining rocks behind which the boys were crouching. "I counted twenty of them and I think there are one or two more. Say, but won't we give them a big surprise?"

"You bet!" and Bud's jaws came together grimly.

"Keep down! Everybody keep down!" warned Mr. Conroyal in a whisper. "Don't shoot, until I give the order; and then jump to your feet and pick your man and fire as quick as the Lord will let you; but, be sure you have got the bead on the man before you pull the trigger. We must down as many of them as possible at the first volley. Now, everybody get ready. They will be out in the open in a minute or two," and he turned to give his attention to the advancing robbers.

By this time Pedro and his men had reached the line of rocks and bushes that faced the opening in front of the rocks behind which our friends lay concealed; and here they paused for a moment, each man behind a rock, and searched with careful eyes the camp under the Big Tree.

"There's Pockface!" excitedly whispered Bud, who now had his eye to the crack between the two stones, "behind that big rock straight in front of us, the skunk. Now, just wait, until we get the order to fire," and his lips closed tightly.

At this moment Ham, who crouched behind a rock by the side of Mr. Conroyal, whispered:

"I'll be durned if I don't believe we can capture the hull caboodle, if we jest wait 'til they git 'most up tew us, an' then jump up sudden an' point our guns at them an' yell, 'hands up!' an' that'll be a heap better'n tew let half on 'em git away tew bother us all the way back tew civilerzation."

"Right, I believe you are right. Anyway we will try it. Watch them, while I give the right instructions," and Mr. Conroyal crept swiftly to near the center of the little group behind the rampart of rocks.

"Men," he said, speaking low, yet loud enough for all to hear, "we are going to try to capture the whole bunch of scoundrels. At the word, every one of you jump to his feet and point his rifle at the skunks and yell 'Hands UP!' I reckon that will bring every hand up; but, if it don't and any of them act suspicious or make a break, shoot quick, and shoot to kill. Do you all understand?"

All nodded and Mr. Conroyal returned at once to his place by the side of Ham.

At this moment the robbers broke from the rocks and ran swiftly out into the open toward the Big Tree.

"Ready, everybody ready!" whispered Mr. Conroyal.

On came the robbers, until they were within seventy-five feet of the rocks behind which our friends were hiding.

"Now!" yelled Mr. Conroyal, and leaped to his feet, and leveled his rifle. "Hands UP!" he commanded.

And almost at the same moment all the others,—even Mrs. Dickson—leaped to their feet, and leveled their rifles, and yelled: "Hands UP!"

The robbers stopped, as if they had suddenly run into a stone wall, turned their startled eyes on the leveled rifles and the stern-faced men back of them—and then, every hand went up, as if worked by one shaft of machinery, every hand except the hands of Pockface, who, doubtless thinking that his capture would mean death anyway, whirled about suddenly and leaped toward the rocks behind him.

At the same instant Ham's rifle cracked; and the legs of Pockface doubled up under him, and he went down, like a shot rabbit.

That was enough for the rest of the men.

"Don't shoot. We surrender," they all yelled, holding their hands as high as they could above their heads.

"Rex, you and Dill get their guns and knives. The rest of you keep them covered with your rifles," commanded Mr. Conroyal.

Rex and Dill, with broad grins on their faces, instantly stepped forth, and soon had all the weapons of the robbers safely confiscated.

Fifteen minutes later, every robber lay on his back under the Big Tree, his hands and feet firmly bound with strong ropes. There were twenty-one of them; and our friends were too wise to take any needless chances.



CHAPTER XXVI

THE CATASTROPHE

"Now, the question is, what shall we do with our captives?" and Mr. Conroyal glanced a little anxiously around the circle of faces that had gathered about him, a short time after all the robbers had been safely bound. "We cannot hang them, as they deserve, and we have not food enough to keep them, and it will be hardly safe to turn them loose. What do you think we had better do, Ham?" and he turned to Hammer Jones.

"First off," answered Ham, "we'd better make a raid on their camp an' git all their hosses an' supplies. Maybe that'll answer th' food question; for, I reckon, they must have come well supplied, seein' that Ugger an' Quinley would have plenty of gold-dust tew buy with."

"Good," promptly declared Mr. Conroyal. "You and Rex and Dill and Dickson make that raid at once on their camp, which, I fancy, you will find somewhere near the Devil's Slide."

Ham proved to be right; for, when he and the men who went with him, returned from the raid, some two hours later, they had with them fifteen horses, ten of which were heavily laden with food and other camp supplies, and one prisoner, the man who had been left to guard the camp.

"Now, I reckon, we've got them all, twenty-tew livin' an' tew dead," Ham declared, as he bound his prisoner and placed him with the other captives: "an' right whar we can keep them out of mischief. Thar's plenty of food for all, Con," and he turned to Conroyal, "leastwise for a few days, so th' food problem is settled. Now, what are you proposin' of dewin'? We want tew git th' gold an' git out of here as soon as we can," and he lowered his voice.

"I can't see but one thing for us to do, Ham," Mr. Conroyal answered, "and that is to keep a guard over the prisoners, while the rest of us get the gold out; and then, when we've got the gold, to turn them loose in the mountains, without weapons or horses, and make for home as fast as we can. We've been considering the problem, while you were after the horses and camp supplies, and that is the conclusion that we have come to. How does it strike you?"

"'Bout right, under th' circumstances," answered Ham. "An' th' sooner we git things a-goin' ag'in th' better. I'm gettin' some anxious tew git back intew that cave."

"We'll get busy at once," declared Mr. Conroyal. "But first, I reckon, we ought to bury them two corpses. 'Twouldn't be Christian to leave them to rot a-top the ground or to be ate up by wolves."

"Shore," agreed Ham. "Come on, Rex. We're th' responsible fellers, an', I reckon, it's up tew us tew dig th' grave. We'll put 'em both in one grave," and he picked up a pick and shovel and started to where the body of Quinley lay.

In a short time the two men had the grave dug.

"Now for the bodies," and Ham caught hold of Quinley and turned the body over. "Wal, I swun!" and he stared down at the left hand. The little finger had been recently shot away and the wound was still roughly bandaged. "So y'ur th' feller that I owe a finger tew. Wal, here it is," and he thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out the little buckskin-wrapped parcel, containing the little finger that he had shot from the unknown hand the night they were encamped on the shore of Goose Neck Lake, and laid it down on the corpse.

"Now, I reckon, we'll have to see if you have any of that stolen gold-dust left," and Ham began a search of the body, which resulted in the finding of a heavily laden gold-belt buckled around the waist, next to the skin.

Ham at once appropriated this; and then the two men lowered the body into the grave. A similar belt, also well-filled with gold-dust, was found around the body of Bill Ugger. Ham unbuckled this belt and placed it with the other. Then he and Rex lifted the body of Ugger and carried it to the grave and lowered it down on top of the body of Quinley; and then filled the grave with broken pieces of rocks and dirt, to prevent the wolves from digging up the bodies.

"Th' way of th' transgresser is hard, accordin' tew th' good book," and Ham's eyes rested thoughtfully on that lonely new-made grave. "An' shore th' end of them tew 'pears tew bear out th' good book. Wal, th' dead is dead, an' that's all thar is tew it. Now, for th' livin'," and he turned from the grave and walked up to where Mr. and Mrs. Dickson were standing, the two confiscated gold-belts in his hand.

"Here, Dick, I reckon, is a part of th' gold them skunks got from you," and he handed the two belts to Dickson. "Leastwise we got them from their bodies."

But Mr. and Mrs. Dickson refused to take the gold and insisted that it be placed in the common fund, to be shared by all alike, so Ham turned the two gold-belts over to Mr. Conroyal.

The camp was now placed under the strictest discipline. Ten of the prisoners were compelled to assist in getting the gold from the cave. The others were kept bound and under constant guard, night and day, all except Pedro, who, during the day, was forced to do the cooking and the camp work for all, while at night he was securely bound and returned to his place with the other prisoners.

Thus the work of getting the gold out of the cave went steadily on for five days, every one, even Mrs. Dickson, working to the very limit of his or her endurance. Then came the night of the catastrophe.

The gold, as fast as it was taken out of the cave, was carried, in sacks made from blankets, to the opening in the wall of rock that gave entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch, and from there lowered to the ground with ropes. Each night all the workers returned to the camp under the Big Tree. On this night, the sixth night from the day of the finding of the Cave of Gold, about midnight, there suddenly swept through the air above them one of those rare, for that time of the year, but often very violent, mountain storms.

For an hour the water fell out of the skies, as if poured from an enormous bucket. The wind blew, until it seemed almost to shake the solid mountains themselves, while vivid glares of lightning blinded the eyes and heavy peals of thunder deafened the ears. Then came a lull in the violence of the storm, as if the elements had paused to gather themselves for a last supreme effort, followed almost instantly by a glare of lightning so vivid, that, for the moment, it seemed as if the whole world was ablaze, and a shock of thunder, so appalling, that everyone leaped from his blanket and stood staring with blanched face and frightened eyes around him, not knowing what awful thing was happening. For two or three minutes the dreadful sounds continued, as if mountains were being torn up by the roots and thrown crashing to the earth again, while the ground shook and trembled beneath their feet, as if the earth had the ague. Then, only the roar of the falling rain and the rushing of the wind through the limbs of the Big Tree above their heads, was heard. Fifteen minutes later the rain had ceased, the wind had died down, the clouds had swept by, and the stars were shining again in a clear sky.

The next morning, when our friends, on their way to the Cave of Gold, reached the narrow shelf of rock in Crooked Arm Gulch, from which they had had their first view of the Golden Elbow, an astonishing sight met their eyes.

The great arch, overhanging the entrance to the Cave of Gold, with its millions of tons of superincumbent rocks, had given away, and the whole of that side of the gulch, nearly a thousand feet high and for a couple of hundred feet on either side, had split off and fallen in a great mass of rocks, hundreds of feet high, where the day before had been the entrance to the dead miner's marvelous Cave of Gold.

For a number of minutes all stood staring at this unexpected and astounding sight in awed silence. No wonder it had sounded the night before as if mountains were being torn up and thrown down again! No wonder the ground beneath them had shook and trembled from the impact of those millions of tons of rocks!

"Gosh! I'm glad I ain't in that Cave of Gold!" and Ham turned an awed face to the others. "If that storm had comed up in th' daytime, some on us might be in thar right now. I reckon we've got all th' gold th' Lord intended us tew git, an' now we'd better git for home."

"Well, if that was the Lord's work, He has been mighty accommodating to wait until we got all the gold we need," and Mr. Conroyal smiled. "I was thinking last night that we had about enough, and had better be starting for home. Mighty curious place, that Cave of Gold; and I have been wondering quite a bit how the gold got into it; and this is about the way I figure it out:

"Thousands of years ago, how many thousands God alone knows, there must have been a great river pouring through Lot's Canyon, with its bed hundreds of feet below the present bottom of the canyon; and, at that time, there must also have been a powerful stream of water flowing through this gulch, and emptying into the river in Lot's Canyon, through a great hole worn through the solid wall of rock, which is now completely hidden under the rocks that have fallen down into the gulch during the ages since both rivers dried up. Now, in making that turn," and he pointed to where the Golden Elbow had been, "I figure that the water struck a soft ledge of gold-bearing rock, and gradually scooped out a big cave right in the point of the turn, and, of course, as the gold was washed out of the rock, it would fall to the bottom of the cave, and, being in quite large chunks, it was too heavy for the action of the water to carry it out of the cave, while the water would carry out nearly all the other dirt and gravel, thus leaving the bottom of the cave covered with gold nuggets, the way we found it. And, after the river had dried up, rocks from the arch at the entrance to the cave would fall off, and little by little fill up the entrance and form the big arch we found. Now, that's about the way the gold came into the cave, according to my figureing. What's your idea, Rad?" and Mr. Conroyal turned to Rad Randolph.

"I think that you've hit it about right, Con," answered Mr. Randolph. "But, now that there is no hope of getting any more gold out of that cave, I am getting powerful anxious to make a start for home with what we have got. Let's go back to the Big Tree at once and get agoing homeward as soon as we can."

"Hurrah for home!" yelled Thure, starting for the opening out of Crooked Arm Gulch. "I'd rather see home now than another Cave of Gold."

In a few minutes all were back in the camp under the Big Tree; and preparations for the start homeward were begun at once.

In three hours everything was ready for the journey. The gold, there was fifty bags of it, each weighing about one hundred pounds, was packed on the fifteen horses they had secured from the robbers. Mrs. Dickson was given one of the other horses to ride, and the food and the camp supplies were packed on the remaining five horses.

The twenty-two prisoners were now all gathered in a bunch under the Big Tree, and the hands of each man strongly tied behind his back. Then Mr. Conroyal stepped out in front of them.

"You cowardly pack of scoundrels," he said, "if we could, we would gladly take you to where we could deliver you up to the justice you so richly deserve; but, under existing circumstances, that is impossible; and so we have decided to leave you here, bound as you now are, without weapons of any kind, but with food enough to last you three days, which ought to be enough to keep you until you can get to one of the mining-camps. Doubtless, by working real hard, you can manage to get the hands of one of you untied in course of the next two or three hours, and then he can soon untie the hands of the others, and you can start for one of the mining-camps as soon as you please. But," Mr. Conroyal spoke slowly, so that every man could understand every word that he uttered, "do not, if you value your lives, follow our trail. We will shoot, and shoot to kill, on sight. Now, that is all I have to say to you, except," and he grinned joyously, "to thank you for bringing us those fifteen horses and for your help in getting out the gold. I do not know what we would have done without the horses and without your help. Hope this will learn you to give up trying to steal gold and start you to digging for it," and he turned and led the little company down the canyon, bound, at last, for home.



CHAPTER XXVII

HOME

Ten days later than the events just recorded in the last chapter, Iola Conroyal and Ruth Randolph sat swinging in a hammock, stretched under the broad porch that shaded the front of the Conroyal house.

"I wish we could hear from our dads and the boys," Iola said, as the two girls swung gently back and forth. "It seems like a long time now since Thure and Bud left us; and we haven't heard a word from them since they went away; and so many things might have happened to them. Why, they may already have found the Cave of Gold, and right at this moment they may be picking up gold nuggets by the basketful!" and her dark eyes sparkled at the thought.

"Yes, it has been a long time since we heard from the mines," answered Ruth; "and our mothers are beginning to worry, more than they let us know. They are afraid that the hunt for the Cave of Gold will get them into some kind of trouble with the men who murdered the old miner for the skin map, and then failed to get it. And—and not to hear a word from them, when so many things might happen, is terrible worrying. Oh, I do hope they find that Cave of Gold, and get enough gold to make us rich all the rest of our lives!" and her face brightened. "That is the way it would come out in a story book; and I can't see why it can't happen that way in real life, just this once. I dreamt, only last night, that they came back with a string of horses a mile long and all of them loaded down with gold. And—and," and her face flushed a little, "Thure brought me a nugget as big as my head, and a necklace of nuggets that reached to the ground, when he threw it around my neck. Oh, if something like that would only happen in real life!" and she laughed merrily at her own extravagant conceit.

"And I dreamt—" and then Iola stopped abruptly.

A faint halloo, coming from far-off, at this moment had reached the ears of both girls, and brought them out of the hammock in one jump, and turned their two pairs of eyes to staring excitedly across the level of the valley in front of the house.

A mile away they saw two horsemen, swinging their hats around their heads and hallooing loudly, riding excitedly toward the house; and back of them came a long train of horses and men.

For a minute the two girls stood, as if turned to stone, staring with widening eyes at those two horsemen, at the train of horses and men behind them; and then, with a yell that made their mothers jump from the chairs where they were sitting in the cool of the house and rush to the door, they leaped off the porch and ran toward the two horsemen.

"It's Thure and Bud! It's dad and the rest!" they shouted, as they ran.

In a few minutes the racing boys—for the two horsemen were Thure and Bud—and the running girls met.

The boys jumped from their saddles, and, the next instant, they were in the arms of the girls.

"We found it! We found it!" shouted Thure, a moment later, dancing up and down with excitement. "We found the Cave of Gold! And here," and he thrust one of his hands into his pocket, "is your breastpin nugget!" and he handed the big gold nugget he had found to Ruth. "And here is your necklace of gold nuggets!" and he threw over the happy girl's head and around her neck a long string of gold nuggets that he had strung on a deer sinew, during the homeward journey.

Bud, during this time, had been going through the same delightful performance with Iola.

That was the most wonderful night in the history of the Conroyal and the Randolph households!

First, of course, after the greetings were over, the gold had to be taken off the horses and carried into the house and piled up in the center of the floor of the big room; and then, with all of the two families and all of the friends who took part in the search for the Cave of Gold, not forgetting you may be sure Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, seated in a circle around the piled-up bags of gold, the story of the adventures of Thure and Bud and the finding of the dead miner's marvelous Cave of Gold had to be told.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed Iola happily, when, at last, the tale was ended. "It is just like a story out of a book; and I wouldn't believe it at all, if I couldn't see the gold piled up right in front of me. Now," and her eyes looked wonderingly at the bags of gold, "how much is all that gold worth? Is it worth a Hundred Thousand Dollars?" and her eyes grew big with the thought of the enormous wealth that lay within touch of her hand.

"I reckon it is," laughed Mr. Conroyal. "But, supposing we see just about how much it is worth. Thure, you and Bud go and get the big scales, and we will weigh it."

In a few minutes the two boys returned, carrying between them a small platform scales, capable of weighing a few hundred pounds at a time, and set it down by the side of the pile of bags of gold.

Mr. Conroyal now placed the bags of gold, four at a time, on the scales, and announced their weights; and Thure and Bud, pencils and paper in their hands, set down the amounts. When the last bag had been weighed, all waited anxiously while the two boys added up the various amounts. Thure was the first to finish the addition.

"Five thousand one hundred and three and a half pounds!" he yelled.

"Exactly what I got," announced Bud a moment later.

"Give me the pencil and paper," and Mr. Conroyal caught the pencil and paper from Thure's hands. "I'll see about what that amount of gold is worth," and he began figuring on the paper, with hands that trembled just a little with excitement. Presently he looked up, his face flushed and his eyes shining.

"Of course I can't tell exactly how much the gold is worth," he said, "not knowing exactly how much it will bring an ounce; but, I am sure we can count on its bringing a Million Dollars, a Million Dollars, boys! And that, since there were ten in the company, will give each one of us at least One Hundred Thousand Dollars!"

"Great Moses! That means that we are all rich! Hurrah!" and Thure jumped to his feet and yelled so loudly that Iola thrust her mantilla over his mouth, fearing that the glad noise might bring the roof down on their heads.

"And that we can now go to our dear home in New York," Mrs. Dickson said softly, pressing the hand she held of her husband and looking happily into his eyes.

THE END