28 A Parting and a Meeting

We began to prepare for our departure. The first and greatest thing was to arrange for the carrying of the gold to ’Frisco, and the finding of the mules we thought had solved the problem. But when we brought out the little canvas bags with their precious contents, and made them into packs which would not chafe the backs of the mules too much, we found that we had nearly twice as much as we could carry on such a long journey. For a while we were in a quandary, as we did not like to leave any of our hard-earned treasure behind, but at last Mr. Sheldon suggested that we bury what we could not carry on this journey. We adopted his idea, and buried it in the side of the hill, smoothing over the earth carefully and then covering it with squares of turf. Then we felt that it was safe until such time as we might return for it.

A portion of the gold being buried, there was nothing left for us to do but depart, and we had agreed to start on the following day, when Mr. Sheldon gave us a great surprise.

“Boys,” he said, “I shall leave you this afternoon.”

“Leave us!” cried Pike in astonishment. “Why, what’s thet fur.”

“I’ve been thinking it over for a day or two,” replied Mr. Sheldon, “and I guess I must be off for my house in the hollow tree. The gold hunt is over, and we’re well rid of all our enemies. I never really cared for the gold myself, but when I found that the other fellows were trying to beat you out of it it fired my blood, so to speak, and I determined to stick to you, because I liked you, until the crisis was over. It is over now and I must be off. I want to see that my house is all right and that everything, is in order.”

We knew that Mr. Sheldon was a very eccentric man, but we were also fully aware of his many sterling qualities and of the great interest that he had taken in us, and the valuable aid that he had given to us. So there was an outcry against his declaration. But he would not be persuaded.

“Boys,” he would say, “I am solitary by nature. I dislike the company of my fellows. I don’t know any other party that I would have stayed with as I have stayed with you. I like every one of you and you are my friends, but my house is waiting for me.”

“But one-sixth of the gold is yours,” said Pike. “What shall we do with that?”

Again Mr. Sheldon surprised us by obstinately refusing to take a single lump of it. He said he had plenty of property, back in New York City, more than he knew what to do with, and he did not want a cent more. We urged him, but could not move him.

“Wa’al,” said Pike at last, “we’ll put one-sixth of it to your credit in a bank at ’Frisco, an’ it’ll be thar when you want it.”

“I’ll never claim it,” said Mr. Sheldon.

That very afternoon, he left us. He would not even take one of the mules. Each of us wrung his hand at parting for we knew he was a true friend. Then he threw his rifle over his shoulder and walked off towards the northwest. We watched him until he disappeared over a distant hill.

“What a queer man,” said Henry.

“Yes,” said Pike, “but he’s made of ra’al gold.”

We felt much sadness over the departure of Mr. Sheldon, for we had become attached to him, but other events raised our spirits too high for us to be affected by it long. The shadow caused by the great tragedy of the flood also soon passed, but hardly ever have men been happier or more hopeful than were we when we made our last preparations for the journeys to ’Frisco. We had won our treasure through many dangers, and we looked forward to the enjoyment of it. It is true that we were compelled to leave half of our wealth behind, but we believed that it would be secure when we came again.

“Guess the price o’ gold will go down when to ’Frisco,” said Starboard Sam, “fur ef I ain’t took greatly, we’ll flood the market.”

“Never mind about that, Sam,” said Henry, “gold is gold always, and you’ll find a market for yours.”

“The fear o’ thet hez never troubled me,” said Starboard Sam, “but I’m wonderin’ what I’ll do with all my money. Guess I’d buy the old frigate Constitooshun, thet I’ve sailed and fou’t in so much, but the Guv’ment wouldn’t sell her. Say, Bonneau, how’d I look in the uniform o’ a admiral, covered all over with gold buttons and gold epaulets so heavy they’d hold my shoulders down, an’ a whoppin’ big three-cornered hat on my head a-pacin’ the quarter-deck o’ thet big frigate, an’ a-sailin’ ’er wharever I pleased, an’ a-makin’ the Britishers, and the Dutchers an’ the Frenchers an’ the Spanishers an’ everybody keep out of my way?”

“You would be one great man. You would be like an emperor. You would be as magneeficent as ze great Napoleon heemself,” said Bonneau, admiringly.

“I don’t know but what I’ll try it,” said Starboard Sam, reflectively. “I might make the Guv’ment an offer fur the Constitooshun, an’ ez I’m one of them that fit in her and helped to make her famous, the Guv’ment might think well o’ the matter, an’ let me hev her, bein’ ez it’s me.”

The idea was so pleasing to Starboard Sam that the smile of content did not depart from his face for many hours.

At last we started. We decided to leave the cabin in a tolerable state of equipment, ready for the next wanderers who might come along.

“’Tain’t wuth while to t’ar anythin’ down,” said Pike. “We’ve hed luck at this here place, an’ ef any feller comes wandering’ along after we’ve gone we ought to leave things ez comf’ble fur him ez we kin.”

So we left some furs, and some dried meat in the cabin. Then we fastened the door in such a manner that the wild animals could not force it, gave the word to our mules, and started off at a lively pace for ’Frisco.

Pike, who always had a good idea of direction, figured out the point on the horizon beyond which San Francisco lay, and we bent our course towards it. Our journey to the mine had been zigzag, but we decided that we would not waste any time on the return trip through wandering from our course.

Although we were anxious to turn our gold chunks into gold coin we’ did not hurry. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, and the scenery, which often was very picturesque. Seven or eight hours a day was about all that we devoted to marching. Sometimes we would, stop to hunt game. Nevertheless we made steady and good progress, and were free from apprehension of any kind until the night of the fourth day after we had started. We had encamped by the banks of a little brook, and were aroused about midnight by the squealing of the mules. We made a careful examination, though we failed to discover anything at that time. But the next morning up the stream, about thirty yards from the point at which we had encamped Pike saw the print of some footsteps in the mud of the bank. As no one of us had passed that spot he knew they must have been made by a stranger. The mud was very soft, and the shape of the footprint had changed so’much that Pike was unable to tell anything except that a man had been there.

I knew from the way Pike shook his head when he saw the footprint that his apprehensions were aroused, and my own experience was sufficient to tell me that it was not a matter to be passed over lightly. We had such a precious convoy of treasure that we were bound to be very cautious, and the knowledge that another or others had been so near to us in the night was not reassuring.

“Ef the mud hadn’t settled around his footmark so much,” said Pike, “I might tell more about it, but ez it is I kain’t even say whether an Injun or a white man hez trod here. Still it must hev been a white man, fur I don’t think thar are Injuns in this part uv the country.”

Pike endeavored to trace the footprints further, but the ground was so hard that the stranger had left no other marks. We spent two hours searching the vicinity, but achieved no result save failure. Pike was the only one of us upon whom the matter weighed long.

“Some stray hunter who passed near us in the night, I guess,” said Henry, and I soon came to the same conclusion.

On the following night we were aroused again by mules. But this time we did not even find a footprint. Nevertheless we felt sure that the mules would not have given a false alarm, and our apprehension returned. We had no fear for ourselves, but the possession of the treasure made us uneasy. Now, for the first time in all our lives, we felt the burden of wealth. We dreaded lest in some manner we should be robbed of our gold. We decided to resume our night watch, but there was no alarm on the third night.

Two days later we entered very mountainous country. We could have avoided the mountains by making a wide curve to the south, but we thought it would save time to press straight on over them. The range was bare and cut by mighty ravines, down which we would drop stones and no sound would come back.

“I wonder eef eet has any bottom at all?” said Bonneau, after one of these experiments.

“S’pose you drop down and see, Bonneau,” said Starboard Sam with a grin. “I’ll take care o’ your gold until you come back to claim it.”

But Bonneau declined the invitation with great emphasis.

We travelled for a day on the mountain, and then we began to fear that we had made a mistake. The way was continually growing steeper and more difficult. Sometimes it led dangerously near the precipices, and at last we were brought up by a sheer wall of stone. We halted, and for a while were in doubt whether to seek some new road or return as we had come and make the long journey around the mountain. But Pike did not like to go back without one more attempt to make the passage. So leaving Bonneau and Sam with the mules, Pike, Henry and I turned to the right, and passing in front of the wall sought a path around it. We succeeded in this attempt, and then decided to go further and see what other obstacles we might meet. In order to facilitate the search we separated.

After I left Pike and Henry I toiled along, the hot sun and the steep way making me very tired. I had been alone about three-quarters of an hour when I found my path suddenly barred by a chasm mightier than any I had encountered hitherto. It was decidedly a case of no thoroughfare. But before turning I decided to take a look over the precipice.

I knelt down, and holding tight to a projecting rock, thrust my eyes an inch over the edge and gazed into the awful depths. Far below, how many hundreds, even thousands, of feet down I could not guess, I dimly saw the stony bottom of the chasm. As I gazed I began to have a curious, uneasy, swimming sensation in my head. I felt as if some unknown power were pulling me into that tremendous abyss. Then I felt a desire to hurl myself down, but I conquered it with my will and drew back, pale and panting, from the verge. As I did so a harsh voice behind me said:

“I hope you like the looks o’ things down thar, young gen’leman, but I wouldn’t advise you to git in the habit o’ peepin’ over precipices like that, a mile deep. It’s mighty tryin to the nerves. I wouldn’t do it myself, an’ I ain’t eggzackly chicken-hearted. My wust enemies never said that o’ me, no, not they:”

I whirled around in alarmed surprise, and stood face to face with Halftrigger.

“Yes, it’s me,” he said tauntingly, “Hank Halftrigger, riz from the dead. Ain’t ye glad to see sech an old friend ez me. Why don’t ye fall on my neck an’ weep with joy. I never saw a feller who wuz ez ongrateful ez you’ pear to be fur the marcies o’ a divine Providence. Here I’ve cum back right out o’ the grave itself, so to speak, an’ ye ain’t got a word o’ welcome fur me.”

He was seated on a huge stone with his knees drawn up almost to his chin. Across his knees lay a large pistol, the butt of which was clutched in his right hand. I noticed that the pistol was cocked, and if it were discharged the bullet would come in my direction. I had seen Halftrigger’s face before when it was full of evil, but never did it express gratified malice more fully than it did then.

“I must ’low that you ’pear to be surprised and kinder tonguetied,” he said. “I guess thet’s the reason you don’t show your joy at the sight o’ me ez you ought to. Thought that avalanche o’ water thet cum tumblin’ down frum the top o’ the mountain had smashed me all up ez it did the rest o’ the boys, did ye! Wa’ll I’ll ’low thar wuz cause for sech a notion gittin’ into your head, but by the great hornspoon Hank Halftrigger wuzn’t made to be swiped off the face o’ the earth by a splash o’ water, d’ye hear me? Hank Halftrigger wuz made fur better things.”

“What do you want?” I asked, recovering my tongue at last.

“I want to talk, to you, sonny,” he replied, “an’ while I’m doin’ it don’t you put your hand down to your pistol or up to your gun. I don’t want no sech interruption to our conversation. An’ ef you try it I’ll hev to blow a nice big round hole through you with this pistol o’ mine, which you kin see is trained right on you and ready fur action. An’ I guess you’ve seem enough o’ me to know that I’m a man what keeps his word.”

He had changed his tone somewhat, but it was still mocking. Out of the corner of his eye he watched every movement I made.

“Well, what do you want to say?” I asked.

“I jest wanted to remind you,” he said. “Thet I wuz keepin’ an eye on you fellers, an’ thet I intended to see, thet you didn’t git away with my gold.”

“The gold is ours,” I said.

“Wa’al, wa’al, thet’s a good joke!” he replied. “I see you fellers still stick to thet. Why, it’s all mine. All my pardners hev gone an I’ve inherited thar shares. I guess thet’s good law on both sea and land. Wa’al, I’m not a-kickin’ over your bringin’ it along, ’cause it saves me a lot o’ trouble, an’ I’ll claim it afore I git to ’Frisco.”

“What’s all this to me?” I said. “I don’t care to listen to it!”

“But you’ll hev to,” he replied. “I wuz hopin’ I might meet some o’ you to-day, an’ I’m glad it’s you. I’ve seen rather more o’ you than I hev o’ the others, an’ it’ll be nice to begin with you.”

“Begin with me? What do you mean?” I exclaimed.

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough,” he replied.

Then he added. “Come here!” in a voice so fierce and masterful that I obeyed him before I knew what I was doing.

He seized me by both arms, and his hands gripped me as if they were made of steel.

“It means,” he said, throwing off his taunting mask, “that your time hez come, my fine young lad. I’ve no doubt you’d like to git to ’Frisco with all thet gold an’ enjoy it, but you’ll never doit, nor will any o’ your frien’s. I’ll follow ’em till I wipe out the last one o’ them, an’ then I’ll take the gold myself. Who would know how to spend it better than I would?”

He paused to laugh in my face. Then he continued:

“I’m glad I found you lookin’ over the cliff thar, ’cause thet’s the way you’re goin’. It’s such a nice an’ easy way to settle you, like tossin’ you overboard in a storm. Besides, it’s so far down you won’t make any noise when you strike solid ground that’ll alarm any o’ your frien’s ef they are near.”

He raised one hand to my throat and choked back the cry that I tried to utter. Then he began to shove me towards the verge. I was very strong and agile, but I was powerless to cope with his gigantic mass of bone and muscle. I could not reach the weapon in my belt, nor could I wrench myself from his grasp.

The mountain and the skies began to swim around me, and I saw myself a shapeless mass lying on those dim rocks below.

“Oh, you may fight, an’ you may fight,” snarled Halftrigger, “but you kain’t he’p yourself, an’ I tell you, my fine lad, I’ll enjoy seein’ you a-whirlin’ an’ a-whirlin’ away down thar till at last you strike on the stuns.”

“Not so fast with your whirlin’ an’ your whirlin’!” growled a deep voice behind us.

Halftrigger dropped me as if he had been shot. But the next instant he struck me such a heavy blow on the head with his fist that I reeled and fell against a stone. As I fell my ankle turned under me and I was unable to rise again.

Halftrigger’s face was drawn with fury and thwarted malice as he faced about. A figure as gigantic as his own towered up before him and the voice of Pike said:

“I reckin’ you’ll deal with me.”

Neither man had time to draw a weapon, but they sprang at each other like two grizzly bears, and in a moment they were writhing and dragging each other over the stones. They sank to their knees and then fell flat upon the ground and whirled over and over again. Then they struggled back to their feet, still clasping each other in a powerful hug.

It was an awful and magnificent sight to see these two men so grandly endowed by nature strive for the mastery. One moment they approached the verge; they drew back again. First I saw the glowing face of Pike, then the lowering visage of Halftrigger was turned towards me. Sweat dropped from each and I heard the great joints of the men’s frames cracking as they compressed each other with all the powers of their muscles. Neither uttered a word while this fearful struggle was in progress. They saved their breath and strength for the need which was the utmost.

I sought to rise, but my ankle would not support my weight. Then I drew the pistol from my belt, but the forms whirled before me so fast that I dare not fire for fear of hitting Pike. I groaned in agony as I was compelled to lie there and watch the struggle pass before my eyes without being able to raise a hand to help my friend.

They writhed towards the cliff again, each gasping like bears in a mortal hug. They were within three feet of the verge, then within two feet of it, and I thought both were going over. I tried to close my eyes and shut out the sight, but the lids refused to obey my will. Nearer they came to the brink, and then with a loud cracking sound the edge of the overhanging rock on which they struggled split off like a piece of slate, and the two men sank down with it. Their bodies shot out of sight, but a pair of large bronzed hands clutched the shelf of stone.

Though wrenched by pain I jumped forward, how I know not, and seizing the wrists to which the hands belonged pulled upward with all my might.

“Further over, boy! further over!” gasped Pike. “Git me by the shoulders.”

I reached down, seized him by the shoulders and dragged with all my strength. Thus assisted he slowly drew his huge bulk up until he lay once more upon the brink, though he looked like a ghost.

“You’ve saved my life, Joe,” he said in a voice scarcely above a whisper.

“Yes,” I replied, “but I would never have had the chance if you hadn’t saved mine first.”

“Halftrigger!” said he, shudderingly. “Hez he fell all the way down thar?”

Holding to each other like two children we looked over into the abyss. A hundred feet below us Halftrigger swung. His fall had been broken to some extent by the rough face of the cliff, and he had managed to grasp a projection.

As we looked down he looked up and our eyes met. He glowered at us savagely and defiantly. Then in a voice as gay as ever, he sang:

When he finished the song he loosened his right hand, shook it at us and then shot downward as swiftly as a bullet, his body whirling over and over until it struck on the stones in the dim space below, where it lay motionless and shapeless.

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