Real Gold Part 23

"Oh yes, you will. I shall," replied Cyril.

Just then John Manning came close up, with his gun in his hand.

"Good-night, gentlemen," he said. "Colonel says I'm to come and lie in the shelter here. Don't kick in the night, please, because I'm going to be at your feet. I had a messmate once out in India, who, when we were in barracks, used to sleep like a lamb, but so sure as we were on the march and had to share a tent, which meant he slept in his boots, you might just as well have gone to sleep with a pack of commissariat mules, for the way in which he'd let go with his heels was a wonder.

Good-night, gentlemen, good-night."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE PERIL THICKENS.

There must have been something wonderfully lulling in the roar of that fall, and a feeling of great confidence in the fact that the colonel would keep watch over them half the night, and John Manning, stern, tried, old soldier that he was, for the second half; for, though the boys lay there, fully convinced that they would not be able to sleep, and had visions of knife-armed Indians creeping toward them through the darkness, they soon dropped off, and rested uninterruptedly for eight hours, when they sprang up at a touch from John Manning.

"If you gentlemen will relieve guard," he said quietly, "I'll see about breakfast."

Soon after, as if nothing whatever had happened, they all sat down to a hearty meal, and that over, once more started upon their journey through the mountains; the Indians seeming more willing, and at the suggestion that the mules should rest for a day or two in that luxuriant pasturage, eagerly a.s.suring the colonel, through Cyril, that for days to come they would find plenty, and that the road would be easier.

On hearing this, the colonel decided to go on, and soon found that the guide's words were correct; for, during the next six days, they traversed smiling valleys, with gra.s.s and trees in abundance.

Snowcapped hills rose high above them; but where they journeyed, they were in a beautiful temperate climate, with rich soil and abundance of flowers.

This part of their journey was delightful; for the way along the pa.s.ses was easy, and the colonel, who was a dead shot, several times over added to their larder with his gun.

But they went on in no false security; for several times over they pa.s.sed Indians, and were made fully aware of the fact that every mile they took was carefully watched, and that the leader of the expedition inspected no mountain shelf, cave, or patch of dwarf forest, without his acts being duly noted, though in no observant way.

Diego proved to be a perfect guide; and, making no objections now, he led them steadily on in a way which would have disarmed suspicion with some people; but the colonel was quietly on the alert, and went on examining plant, flower, and tree, at one time with all the patient care of a botanist; and at another time, when they were climbing some rugged shelf in a ravine, letting no mineral escape his observation.

And all the while the little party, though they made no sign, were perfectly well aware that they were being watched.

"Strikes me that when we've got it, they won't let us take a simple lump of gold out of the place, Master Cyril."

"No," said the boy drily.

"But I mean some of the precious stones, Master Perry. I shall have them."

"How?"

"Swaller 'em, sir, if I can manage it without being seen. Why, do you know I went down by that bit o' stream, last night, to bathe my feet, and before I got there, I stopped short and sneezed, and before I had time to say, 'Bless me!' there was an Indian's head popped up over a bush, and another from behind a stone, to see what was the matter."

"Yes; I've noticed something of the kind," said Cyril thoughtfully.

"But I shouldn't advise you to swallow any stones you find."

"Why, sir?"

"Because they won't agree with you."

"They agree with chickens," said Manning, grinning, "and make their hard food digest, so I don't see why they shouldn't agree with me, sir. But, I say, Master Perry, let it out now; I'm sure you'd feel a deal happier if you told us what the colonel's hunting for."

"I shall not tell you, because I don't know. My father knows best about what he's doing, I daresay. We thought, the other day, that we were in great danger; but you saw how quietly he took it, and how it all came to nothing."

"Perhaps the time has not come yet," said Cyril rather seriously; "don't let's talk too soon."

No more was said then; but a few days later, the others thought of how prophetic the boy's words had proved.

But it was not until another fortnight had pa.s.sed, and a day had arrived when, after journeying through a deep defile of a similar character to that which they had threaded upon the day when they met the llama caravan, they reached a point upon the slope of a huge mountain, from which they looked down over a glorious picture of hill and dale, verdant forest and wide-reaching plain, with, in two places, thin serpentine threads of water glistening in the sun.

"At last," said the colonel gravely. "It has been a long journey, boys, but we have reached the point I sought."

Cyril looked at him inquiringly; and Perry, who felt that he was expected to speak, said: "Yes; it's very grand. How different to being in amongst the mountains!"

"Yes, boy; we can breathe out here. Did you notice the water in the last two streams we pa.s.sed?"

"Yes; very beautiful with the overhanging trees, father."

"Yes; but the way they ran?"

"No," said Perry.

"Look yonder, then," said the colonel, pointing to a little rivulet which leaped out from between two ma.s.ses of rock. "Where is that going?"

"Into another stream, I suppose," said Perry, "and that will run into another, and so on, till they all together form a big river, and run into the ocean."

"Yes; but what ocean, my boy? Don't you see that we have crossed the watershed? Till the last day or two, all the streams we pa.s.sed have been going constantly west into the Pacific. Now we have pa.s.sed through the mountains, and found the eastern slope, where all run down to make the vast rivers which flow into the Atlantic."

"I should not have known," said Perry.

"Nor I," said Cyril; "but its much fresher out here."

"Yes, we have left the dry region behind, to get into the land of rains and many waters. We saw no such forests as those which are spread before us even at this height."

"Is this high, sir?" asked Cyril.

"Yes, my lad, about nine thousand feet."

"And shall we go back the same way?" asked Perry.

"Possibly, my lad, but more probably not. It depends upon the way the Indians treat us."

"But we can never find our way back any other way," cried Cyril. "Don't think about it. We should be lost up here in these mountains."

"No, because we have a guide with us, my boy, and if I can help it, he will not leave us till he has seen us safely back."

Cyril said nothing, but the thought occurred to him:

"Suppose we wake some fine morning, and the guides are gone."

They camped that night on the slope of the hill, and till it was growing dark, the colonel busied himself with his gla.s.s, carefully, as it seemed to the boys, inspecting the forest in every direction, and ending by closing the telescope with a satisfied smile, which was not lost upon Cyril.