To The West Part 108

We parted directly after this, it being understood that the miners were to move slowly, so as to give us ample time to make our arrangements, get round over the mountain-ridge, and go down to meet them so as to have the enemy safely between us, Mr Raydon being of opinion that the sides of the valley in which they were encamped would be too steep to give them a chance of escape.

We pressed on past the various little claims, with the place looking untidy and desolate, consequent upon the number of camping-places all along the beautiful stream; and whenever we came upon the more desolate places, with the traces of fire and burned trees, I saw Mr Raydon's brow knit, and more than once he uttered an angry e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.

Gunson's claim was neared at last, just as I was beginning to feel exhausted with the difficulties of the climb up the rugged rock-strewn track, and Mr Raydon was looking more severe than ever, when all at once, from out of the trees there rang out a sharp "Halt!" and there was the clicking of a rifle-lock.

"Hah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr Raydon, brightening up at once at this display of watchfulness, which proved to him how trustworthy his men were. Then stepping to the front he shouted a few words, and the man who had spoken came from his post, which commanded an approach to the claim.

We were met with an eager welcome, and in spite of the risks they would have to encounter, the four men were overjoyed at hearing of the business in hand, clearly showing that they were tired of their monotonous inactive life.

A brief halt was made, during which our party lay about making a good meal; and then, at a word from Mr Raydon, they all sprang up together quite in military fashion, while he explained to the four men the plan.

"We must try and get over here at once," he said, as he glanced up at the tremendous wall of rock, piled up quite a thousand feet above our heads, and dotted with patches of trees, wherever there was soil or crevice in which a pine could take root.

"Better place higher up, sir," said one of the men. "There's a little branch of the stream goes off west: I followed it the other day after a sheep. I think we could get far enough up the mountain then to cross over and strike the other stream."

"Right," said Mr Raydon at once; "that will be better. All ready?

Ammunition?"

"Ready! ready!" rang along the little line.

Mr Raydon nodded.

"No talking, and go as silently as you can; sound travels in these high parts, and we do not know how high up the scoundrels may be camping.

Now, understand once more--single file till we cross over into the other valley, then spread out as widely as the place will allow, and keep as level a line as possible. The object is to drive these men back to the mining party, and not one must break through our line now. You lead. I trust to you to get us well over into that valley."

The man who had spoken of the branch from the stream stepped to the front, rifles were shouldered, the word was given, and with Mr Raydon next to the leader, and I behind him, carrying a spare rifle and the surgical case, the advance was begun.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

A NEW ENEMY.

We had not lost more than a quarter of an hour in this halt; but it was sufficient, as I found when I rose, to have cooled me down and made me feel fresh and ready for the arduous climb that we now had to make. Our path was along by the stream for a time, but more often right in it, for the valley grew narrower, and was frequently little more than a gigantic crack in the mountain-side; but so beautiful that I often longed to stop and gaze at the overhanging ferns and velvety moss by some foaming fall, where the water came down from above like so much fine misty rain.

But there was no halting, and we kept on till the leader suddenly turned into a gloomy niche on our left, out of which another stream rushed; and here for some time we had to climb from rock to rock, and often drag ourselves on to some shelf by the overhanging roots of trees. The ascent was wonderfully steep, and sometimes so narrow that we were in a dim twilight with the sky far away above us, like a jagged line of light. As for the stream in whose bed we were, it was a succession of tiny falls now, and we were soon dripping from the waist downward.

But no word was spoken, and the men worked together as if trained by long service to this kind of travelling. When some awkward rock had been climbed by the leader, he stopped and held down his hand to Mr Raydon, who sprang up and offered me the same a.s.sistance, while I, taking it as the proper thing to do, held my hand down to the next.

For full two hours we struggled up this narrow rift before it became less deep, and the light nearer. Then the climbing was less difficult, and drier, and I could see that we were getting up more on to the open mountain-side, amid the bare rocks and piled-up stones. All at once the leader stopped short, and pointed up to where, quite half a mile away, I could see about a dozen sheep standing clearly defined against the sky, their heads with the great curled horns plainly visible. Some were feeding, but two stood above the rest as if on guard.

Mr Raydon nodded, and the man said--

"I lost sight of my sheep just below where you see those, sir, and I think if we keep on along for a mile beyond we shall find the stream we want running down into the other valley."

Mr Raydon stood shading his eyes for a few minutes.

"Yes," he said, at last. "You are quite right. I can see the mountain I have been on before. Forward!"

The way was less arduous now, and the fresh breeze into which we had climbed made it cooler; but still it was laborious enough to make me pant as I followed right in Mr Raydon's steps. Before we had gone on much further I saw the sheep take alarm, and go bounding up, diagonally, what looked like a vast wall of rock, and disappear; and when we had climbed just below where I had seen them bound, it seemed impossible that they could have found footing there.

Another half-hour's toilsome ascent, for the most part among loose stones, and we stood gazing down into a narrow gully similar to that up which we had climbed, and at the bottom I saw a little rushing stream, which Mr Raydon said was the one we sought, and I knew that we had but to follow that to where it joined the big river, after a journey through the dense ma.s.s of forest with which the valley was filled.

Here we halted for a few minutes in a stony solitude, where there was not the faintest sound to be heard; and then Mr Raydon's deep voice whispered "Forward!" and we began to descend cautiously, for the way down to the stream was so perilous that it was only by using the greatest care that we reached the bottom in safety, and began to follow the torrent downward.

"No chance for them to escape by us this way," said Mr Raydon to me with a grim smile, looking back as we descended the chasm in single file, gradually going as it were into twilight, and then almost into darkness, with perpendicular walls of rock on either hand, and the moist air filled with the echoing roar and rush of water.

Here Mr Raydon took the lead, the man who had been in advance letting us both pa.s.s him, and then following behind, me.

"I have been up this stream to this point before," said Mr Raydon to me. "You never thought to see such places as this, Gordon," he continued, "when you left London."

"No," I said eagerly, for it was pleasant to hear him make some advances towards me; but he said no more, relapsing into complete silence as he strode on or leaped from rock to rock, till by degrees, and repeating our morning's experience in the reverse way, we began to find the narrow gorge widen and grow less dark; then we came to places where the sunshine gleamed down, and there were ferns; then lower down to more light, and where bushes were plentiful, but still with the valley so narrow that we had to keep in single file.

At last, the perpendicular walls were further back, the valley grew V-shaped, and patches of dwarf forest grew visible high up. Bigger trees appeared, and soon after the place became park-like, and a man stepped out to right and left, so that in front we were three abreast; and half an hour later we were amongst the thickly-growing pines--a line of eight men abreast with Mr Raydon in the middle, and I and the other behind.

"Halt!" said Mr Raydon, in a whisper. "Join up."

The men from right and left drew in, and he said in quite a whisper--

"The forest grows more and more dense here for miles away to the river.

I propose now going on for another half-hour, to where there is a sudden narrowing in of the valley to about thirty yards. If we do not meet the enemy before this, I shall halt there, and keep that pa.s.s, waiting till they are driven up to us. But we may have them upon us at any moment now."

"They could not have got by us, sir?" I ventured to say.

Mr Raydon looked at me, and smiled.

"Impossible, my lad. Ready? Forward!"

Our advance now was slow, as we had to pa.s.s in and out among the thickly-growing trees, and to be careful to keep in line as nearly as was possible. Every man was eager and excited, and from time to time, as I looked to right and left, I kept catching sight of one of our party pressing forward with rifle ready, and waiting to fire at the first sight of the enemy, this shot being the appointed signal for all to halt and stand fast, waiting for further orders.

At last, after what in my excited state seemed to be hours, but which afterwards proved not to have been one, Mr Raydon said in a whisper--

"There is the gate."

I stared, but could see nothing till we had gone a few yards further, when I found that two huge shoulders of the mountain had fallen in, and blocked the valley, which was narrowed here, as Mr Raydon said, to a sharply-cut pa.s.sage of about thirty yards wide. Here we halted, and were disposed so that a dog could not pa.s.s through without being seen, and for a full hour we remained in utter silence, watching, till, unable to bear the inaction any longer, Mr Raydon said sharply--

"Forward! Open out! I am afraid there is something wrong below. They ought to have been up here by this time."

We tramped on again now, still with the same precautions, but making as much speed as we could after our rest, though our pace was slow on account of the dense nature of the forest. I cannot tell how long we had been going downward, but suddenly, just as I was growing weary of the whole business, and thinking that the men were after all, perhaps, not here, or that we had come down the wrong valley, my blood rose to fever-heat again, for Mr Raydon whispered--

"Halt!" and the word ran along to right and left. "Be ready," he whispered again. And now I heard a faint muttering in front of us, similar to that which we had made in our progress; and at last, away among the great tree-trunks dimly seen in the shade, I caught sight of a man, then of another and another, and now Mr Raydon's voice rang out hoa.r.s.ely--

"Halt, or we fire!"

There was a low murmuring from before us, and a bit of a rush, as of men collecting together, and then a voice roared from among the trees--

"Surrender there, or we will shoot you down to a man."

"Do you hear?" cried Mr Raydon. "Surrender! The game's up, you scoundrels."