“now you keep still, or i’ll come de gold tuch ober you!” admonished jim, as he hurried the captured mohave to the rear portion of the cave, and delivered him in charge of george inwood and his brother.
“what do you mean by the gold trick?” inquired the latter, as he caught up his gun, and placed himself in an attitude to command the movements of the captured indian.
“why i mean dat—hullo!”
jim turned and darted up the passage, in which he had detected a suspicious noise. he was not a moment too soon. the red men, furious at the abduction of one of their number before their eyes, had united to force away the stone, and, at the instant the negro returned, one of them had shoved his body half through the opening.
“out ob dar!” shouted jim, as, with uplifted pick, he made straight at the intruder. the latter, fully panic-stricken, turned about and whisked out of the cave much more rapidly than he entered, his moccasins twinkling in the air, as if the same means had been employed to extract him, that had been used to draw his venturesome companion in.
the ludicrous appearance of the mohave, as he scrambled out among his friends, exceedingly pleased the ponderous african, who laughed loudly and heartily.
“didn’t fancy de way i swung dat pick round! i was kinder loose wid it, an’ if i’d let it drap on him, it would’ve made him dance.”
it looked very much as if our friends, in capturing the mohave, had, to use a common expression, secured an “elephant.” what to do with him, was the all-important question, now that he was in their power. being without any warlike implements, he was comparatively harmless, and, as there was no escape for him, except through the passage by which he had entered, it was hardly to be supposed that, so long as he was unmolested, he would indulge in any performances likely to bring down the wrath of his captors upon him.
withdrawing to the opposite side of the cave, (which was not more than a dozen feet in diameter) he stood silent and sullen, while edwin inwood, with his loaded and cocked rifle, watched him with the vigilance of a cat. george inwood, feeling that nothing was to be apprehended from the present shape of affairs within their subterranean home, passed up the narrow entrance to where jim was, in order to learn how matters stood there.
at the moment of reaching his sable friend, the discharge of a gun was heard, and jim hastily retreated on his hands and knees a few feet.
“are you hit?” inquired inwood in some alarm.
“yes, but dey didn’t hurt me; dey hit me on de head!”
“can they not force back the stone?”
“not if we can git close up behind it.”
the negro spoke the truth; for, when immediately in the rear of the immense boulder, they could hold it against the combined efforts of any number of men on the outside, and, at the same time, keep themselves invisible, while, by remaining in their present position, they ran every risk of being struck. consequently, no time was lost in creeping into the proper place, where, for the time being, they felt themselves masters of the situation.
having successfully staved off all danger for the present, the question naturally arose, how was this matter to end? the gold hunters were walled up in a cave, with plenty of arms and ammunition, little food and no water. the mohaves, if they chose so to do, could keep them there until they perished from thirst or starvation.
edwin inwood soon grew tired of standing in his constrained position, and he cautiously set down his gun, within immediate reach, and then sinking down upon one knee, resumed the work which had been so peremptorily checked by the entrance of the captured mohave. a large stone, weighing over a dozen pounds, was held firmly in position, while he employed both hands in drilling a hole into the center. this, as all know, is quite a tedious operation, and, although he had the usual tools of the blaster of rocks, he made slow progress. still, he was animated by that great spur to exertion, necessity, and he applied himself to his task without intermission.
while his brother and the gigantic african were parleying and debating upon their situation, he succeeded in reaching the depth desired, and then carefully removing the debris, he thoroughly cleaned the cavity, as does the skillful dentist when preparing our molar for the golden filling. into this hollow, the lower portion of which he had managed to give a globular shape, he poured several handfuls of dupont’s best, a piece of fuse all the while standing upright, while the jetty particles arranged themselves around it. dust and sand were then carefully dropped in, until they reached the surface of the stone, when it assumed the appearance of a solid, honest fragment of rock, with the odd-looking fuse sprouting from its side.
“there!” exclaimed the boy, with a sigh, “it is done, and i think it will answer very well.”
as he looked up, he saw the mohave still standing silent and sullen, but with his dark eyes fixed upon the young artisan with a curious expression, as though a dim idea of the meaning of all this was gradually filtrating through his brain.
“what do you think of it?” asked the youngster, holding up the block of stone, with a smile at his own success, and at the whim which prompted the query. if the questioned had any idea of the meaning of the question, he did not choose to manifest it, but maintained the same stolid silence as before.
“i don’t suppose it will suit you very well; at any rate your friends will be more astonished than pleased with it.”
the boy called his brother, who immediately made his appearance. it took but a few moments to explain his scheme, which pleased the young man.
“it can do no harm to us to try it,” he said, as he picked it up and carried it to jim. the latter listened to the explanation a moment, and his great eyes rolled with delight at the scheme.
“fus’ rate, fus’ rate, almost as good as de gold trick.”
“it is as good a time as any to try it, isn’t it?”
“i s’pose so—you kin see dey’re purty thick out dere.”
inwood produced a match and set fire to the fuse. it burned quite rapidly, like the string of a chinese cracker.
“throw it out as quick as it reaches the sand!” called edwin from the cave.
“golly, it’s dar now!” exclaimed jim, springing up, and[17] preparing to toss it out among the mohaves gathered outside. unfortunately, his elbow struck the side of the entrance, and the bombshell dropped at his feet. believing it about to explode, the negro ran back in dismay, when inwood, with remarkable coolness, drew the huge boulder a little to one side, and, catching up the stone, swung it through the opening. before the mohaves could understand the intent of this, the terrible object burst into a thousand fragments, and with wild whoops of terror, the red men scattered in every direction, as though they themselves were a portion of an immense bombshell which had exploded.
the success of edwin’s scheme, and delight of our friends were complete.
“anybody killed?” asked jim, and his companion peered cautiously around the edge of the boulder.
“i suppose not; but they have been hit and frightened almost out of their senses, and that will do as much good as though it had slain half a dozen of them. i don’t believe they will come back again.”
“dunno ’bout dat; dey’re a queer set ob darkeys, am de injins.”
“i don’t think, from what i have heard, that these mohaves are the bravest tribe of indians in california, and they are too much afraid of us to make much trouble so long as we remain in the cave. and that reminds me of our prisoner—what are we to do with him?”
“kill him,” was the decided response.
“no; that will never do; we cannot murder him.”
“let me come de gold trick ober him.”
“i haven’t learned what that is.”
“jes’ come back where he am, an’ i’ll soon larn you.”
inwood was apprehensive that the “gold trick,” so often referred to by his sable friend, meant something cruel, and he concluded it safer to restrain him.
“never mind about it now, jim; i have a plan of my own.”
“what’s dat?”
“let him go.”
“you don’t mean dat?”
“yes, i do; although he is our enemy, and although his own people are barbarians, who are none too good to put us to the worst kind of torture, if they had us in their power; yet, we are christians, and cannot do such a thing.”
“dunno but what you are right; fetch out de feller.”
“besides,” added inwood, as he moved away, “it may change their feelings toward us. they know we have one of their number in our power, and, if we let him go unharmed, they will have less reason to look upon us as their enemies—this one at least will regard us as a friend.”
the decision made, it was carried out without delay. the mohave was led from the cave, carefully along the passage toward the opening. he evidently believed he was being conducted to his doom; he was as sullen and stoical as his race generally are at such times. jim had rolled the boulder back, so as to afford him free egress, and inwood, first taking him by the arm, motioned for him to retire. the aborigine did not comprehend his meaning, when his captor turned his face toward the opening, and gave him a gentle shove. this was a hint which could not be misunderstood, and he darted out in a twinkling, and disappeared.
“now, i will take a look and see whether there are any of them left,” said inwood, as he stealthily followed the liberated mohave.
by this time it was growing dark, but objects for a considerable distance were quite distinct, and george inwood made a thorough reconnoisance of the bed of the brook for several hundred yards up and down. at the end of a half hour, he returned with the pleasing word that the mohaves had taken their departure.
