THE GOLDEN CAVES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 6373, 8 February 1892, Page 4

THE GOLDEN CAVES.

A STORY OF LOVE, ADVENTURE, AND LUCK.

[bt M. qxjad.l I

CHAPTER I. "Halt!" It ie 10 o'clock in the forenoon of a June day. Ten white-topped wagons, drawn by as many spans of heavy horses, are strung ont in line on the plains of Northern Dakota, while fifteen horsemen are distributed its length to act as guards. There ifl a driver to each wagon, and you can thus count tw«nty-five souls. Twenty-five ? Ah ! bat sharp eyes detect tho fluttering of a Woman's dress on the seat of one of the wagons. Twenty-six, then, with their faces sternly set to the west, each roan heavily armed and every eye scanning the country ahead and about for signs of dunger. Who are they ? The gallant Custcr had made his report of gold in the Black Hills, and fifty thousand seekers after wealth are moving to the West. The country is still in the hands of the Mtrages, and infuriated at the thought of being overrun and pushed to the wall, Hβ has been the case over and over again, every man who can bear arms is on tho war-path to drive back the invaders. The party has come out from Brule City, Dak. It followed the White liiver for more than two hundred miles, and left it to strike north-westfer the forks of the Big , Cheyenne two days before we found them. For tbe last three days Indian signs have been plenty. They hate entered upon the territory of the hostiles, and every mile of their progress will now be watched by keen eyes. " Halt?" Is there danger ahead ? The wagons close up rapidly, as the drivers have been drilled to do, and in ten minutes everything is prepared ,for whatever may happen. "Here, Harkins'—here,Taylor!" oils the leader to two oi the mounted men, and as they ride forward he continues : "The old man is going to turn up hie toes, and I've called a halt to let him die in peace. He's been asking for both of you." Who was the old man ? He had joined the party at the last moment, coming from wo one oared where. He was an old hunter and trapper and had been in the Black Hills country. He could guide the party by the best and most direct route, and ne had the money to outfit himself. He gave his name as Saundero, and his queer speech and actions made the crowd look upon him as weak in the head. He bad been taken very ill the day befor6, and both Harkins and Taylor had shown him many acts of kindnees. No one expected his death, and the announcement that his hour had come created much surprise. However, after each had spoken his mind about it, the majority of the men throw themselvee down on the grass to smoke or chat, and more than one impatiently estimated the distance lost by this delay. Harkins and Taylor dismounted and climbed into tho wagon where the old man lay. A few hours had wrought a great change in him, end it was plain enough that iia time had come.

" Look a-here, men," began the old man 68 the pair expressed their sorrow for him, ■" this has come a leetle sooner than I looked fur, but I'm not goin' to complain. Fur forty years the Lord has let me live to roam these yere plains and dwell in the mountains, and my race is ran. I hain't no word of aomplaint." "Do you wish us to hunt up your friends and tell them where and how you died ?" asked Harkins.

" Friends I" laughed the old man. "I never had one. I hain't go any,"

•'But can we do anything?" asked Taylor. " Fustly, prop me up a leetle higher and then give me a drink of whiekey. I never Bot as much by the stuff as some, but mebbe it will keep life in me till I can spin my yarn. Now, then, did ye ever hear tell of old Bridger?" "I have," replied Taylor. "He was an old hunter and trapper who was wiped out at the Fort Kearney massacre."

" Correct, and they've got a fort named after him eomewhar' out here. Bridger and me was parda far many years. We was in this Black Hills oonntry together upward ef twenty years ago. I've been wanting to get back thar fur these last five years. , , " Did you and Bridger fiud any gold there ?" asked Harkins.

"That's what I'm comin' to. I didn't, but he did Wo went thar to hunt, bein' aatiefidd if we got enough skius and pelts to koep us in powder and ball. One day when a war party made a dash at us we get separated. I took to the timber and Bridger hid in a cave in a canyon. It was three days before we cum together agin, and then we had to duet out to save our scalps. It wee on the way home that Bridget told me what he found in the cave."

The men almost held their breathe, while the old man waited a minute before reeuming: " Bridger never told a lie in hie life. What he said about that cave kin be depended on aame as if you read it in the good book. Thar was gold thar in heaps. He eaid it was in lumps and bars, as if it had been melted up—more'n a span of hossss could draw. He was in thar a day and a half, and ho had time to bo sat tin."

" It was the red man's treasure house ! exclaimed Taylor.

" Waal, no. Pridger didn't reokon the Injune had ever diskivered the place, He allowed that the gold had bin thar fur a when tho Mexicans kivered this country. I,ve heard tell thar was a white race all over tho West."

"Yes, the Aztecs," replied one of the men.

" Them's it. It was them instead of the Injune who stored up tho gold. We allowed to go back after it eoine day, buc the years went on, Bridger got wipod out, and now I'm headed that way only to feed the wohrefl."

"And—an d you will tell us where this cave is ?" anxiously enquired Taylor.

" I will," replied tho dying man, as a emile flitted across his faue. "Hain't it carus? One lays a dyin', thinkin' of the bereafter, and the other is just a trembliu' in hie anxiety to git hold of wealth and spend it i It's like poor humanity. The thought of that gold never bothered me an hour, while you. will risk your lives iur a eight of it. But I'll tell ye. Tiiat'a what Z axed ye to cum in here fur. You've bin white with me, and I kin reward ye fur it."

Harkius aud Taylor glared at each oth<;r •cross the dying man The fiend of avarice was already whispering in their ears.

•'lf you strike the big Obeyeune at the forks," said the hunter, '' the mouatain will be due north of you. The big peak in fr'cnt of ye has been iminod after Ouster. About five miles to the right of that peak is a oanyon—the one up which Bridger fled. He aaid he went about a mile and then took into a smaller one leadiii' to the left. He hadn't gone fur before he grabbed a bush to pull himself upon a ledge out of the bottom, and ac he reached the ledge he was at tho mouth of the cave. Hβ reckoned it was eight or ten feet up, and he thought a path led from it up into the mountain. It ; ar' always dunky in those rifts, and ye might paas up and down a lifetime and see nothing. It may take ye a month of Bearohin', but yell find a big reward. , ' Each man had caught his every word and , eougkt to impress it on his memory, and each Beoretly hoped that the other would forget. This ignorance resulted in a curioue error. Hhikina understood the hunter aright when he said to the right of Ouster's Peak. Taylor understood him to the left. "Ye'U huv to bn on the watch fur fedalrinw," Haid Itie old man after a longrpauhe. "They're out ;>nd inarms, and thpy'llshow ye no ineroy. This rush of white men will drive 'em buolr after a time, and I counsel ye to let the cave alone till its safe to; go thar. Then ye kin make up a small party, briug it oif, and divide it up as is fair." ••Never!" whispered Taylor, asheclenched Mb hands.

'•Divide with him when lean get it all!" demanded Harkins of himself. i They had been friends in danger, the prospect of wealth had turned their frieude lip td bit to An hoar ago they would have periled their lives for each other. -Now they wiefc«d each other dead. ; The possession of gold may bring happiness. The thirst for it may lead to murder. •• ¥a hey been good to me, and I wish ye luck," said tb.o old man in a whisper, but neither of the men heard him. They wore thinking and planning. " About five miles to the right of Ouster's Peak," Harkine kept repeating to himself. " About five miles to the left of Cuater'e Peak," Tayloc repeated over and over again. Two or thrwi minutes passed away, and tben the latter bent forward and cried ••Why, the old man is dead!" So he was. He had made no struggle— eT !?yPell, t Qat waß wbite in nim not to de " lav Uβ " laughed the leader of the caravan when interned of the event. "Some men might have *eept us here all day and then concluded not to die after all. Now the oulv thing is to plant him. Aoouple of men were soon sooopmg out • «h*Uow grave with their Bpades, and within half an hour after the flame of life kind flickered out the body was covered and uiitt« *ugaon-train moving on. . . X'hen a couple of great vnltures dropped J rum t*ie * k / i 0 earth * p wait l

Three or four gaunt wolvep, their long hair dirty and ragged, came skulking over the broken ground. _ Five painted and feathered Indiana crept out of a dry ravine scarcely forty rods away, and with the vengeance of deviin sot to work with hands and sticks to uncover the body There was it suppressed shout as it was rolled out and auother as the sc>ilp was held aloof.

Five minutes Inter tho wolves and vultures had the body to themselves. [to bk continukd. ]