“There’s only about a hundred yards more of this, but we’ve now struck the worst part of the whole trail.”
“If it is any worse than what we have just passed, it won’t do to try it,” replied Captain Dawson, with the memory of his recent thrilling experience still vivid with him.
“We can do it, but we must foller a different plan.”
“What is that?”
“We must lead our animals. There are plenty of places where you can get off your horses with more comfort, but we can’t stand here doing nothing. Get to the ground the best way you know how.”
It was clear that the advice of the guide would have to be followed, and all four set about the task with the cool daring shown from the first. Since each man was to lead his animal, it was necessary to dismount in front, instead of slipping over the tail, as would have been easier. The beasts showed striking sagacity in this delicate task. The trail was so narrow that to dismount to the left, on the side of the dizzying precipice1, 200 made it impossible for a man to keep his poise2, while to descend3 on the right, directly beside the body of the animal was almost certain to crowd him over into the gorge4. Each, therefore, lowered himself with infinite care over the right shoulder of his steed, so well forward, that the horse by turning his head to the left afforded just enough room for the trick to be done. Every one dismounted in safety, each drawing a breath of relief when the exquisitely5 delicate task was accomplished6.
Looking around in the gloom, Vose Adams saw that his friends stood on the ground.
“Are you all ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Brush from the rear.
“Hold the bridle7 so gentle that you can let go if your animal slips off: if he has to go over the precipice, there’s no need of your follering him.”
Each man took his Winchester in hand, and loosely grasping the bridle rein8, began stealing forward, the captain’s loss compelling him to make his single arm answer for both purposes. The advance was necessarily slow, for it was made with the utmost care. The path could not have been more dangerous than for the brief stretch between them and the broad, safe support beyond.
Several times the trail so narrowed that each trembled through fear of not being able to keep his balance, 201 while it seemed absolutely impossible for a horse to do so; but one of the strange facts connected with that intelligent animal is that, despite his greater bulk, he is generally able to follow wherever his master leads. So it was that when a miner carefully turned his head, he saw his steed following slowly but unfalteringly in his footsteps.
It was soon perceived that this perilous11 stretch did not take a straight course, but assumed the form of an immense, partial circle. When half way around, the plodders came in sight of a huge rent in the distant mountain wall, through which the sky showed nearly from the zenith to the horizon. In this immense V-shaped space shone the moon nearly at its full, and without a rift12 or fleck13 of cloud in front of its face.
A flood of light streamed through and between the encompassing14 peaks, tinging15 the men and animals with its fleecy veil, as if some of the snow from the crests16 had been sprinkled over them. On their left, the craggy wall sloped almost vertically17 downward, the projecting masses of rock displaying the same, fairy-like covering, ending in a vast, yawning pit of night and blackness, into whose awful depth the human eye could not penetrate18.
On the right, the mass of stone, rock and boulder19, rugged20, broken and tumbled together, as if flung about by giants in sport, towered beyond the vision’s reach, 202 the caverns21, abysses and hollows made the blacker and more impenetrable by the moonlight glinting against the protruding22 masses.
It was as if a party of Titans had run their chisels23 along the flinty face of the mountain from the rear, gouging24 out the stone, with less and less persistency25, until they reached the spot where the men and animals were creeping forward, when the dulled tools scarcely made an impression sufficient to support the hesitating feet.
Captain Dawson was but a few paces to the rear of Vose Adams’s mule26, whose surety of step he admired and tried to imitate.
“Training seems able to accomplish anything,” reflected the captain; “I remember how Lieutenant27 Russell and I stopped on the further edge of this infernal place when we reached it one forenoon and spent several hours trying to find a safer path. It kept us in a tremor28 until we were across. Had any one told me that on the next journey I should try it in the night, I would have believed him crazy, but,” he grimly added, “I would have thought the same, if I had been told that a necessity like this would compel us to do so.”
The bridle rein was looped over his elbow, which extended behind him, the same hand grasping his rifle, so that he advanced partly sideways over the treacherous30 trail. He attempted to do nothing but look after 203 his own footsteps. Sometimes, when it was a little harder to pull the rein, he slackened his pace. It would not do to hurry the animal, since a slight disturbance31 might cause him to loose his footing. The horse knew what was required of him and would do it better by being left wholly to himself.
It was because of this concentration of his mind upon the one thing that the captain failed to perceive that the mule in his front had stopped walking, until the rim29 of his slouched hat touched the tail of the motionless animal.
“Helloa, Vose, what’s the matter?”
The guide said something, but kept his face turned away, and his words, instead of being in the nature of an answer, were addressed to some one who confronted him. Adams was of slight stature32, so that, although he stood erect33, it was easy for the captain to look over his head and see what was beyond. That which was thus revealed was another horseman leading his animal and coming toward them. He was advancing in the same manner as the miners, that is by leading his horse, and, meeting our friends thus face to face, it was impossible for either party to pass: one or the other must give way and retreat.
A startling feature of this meeting was that the individual who thus confronted them was an Indian of gigantic stature. He was more than six feet in height 204 and of massive proportions. He belonged to what were known as the “mountain Indians,” who were brave and of irrestrainable ferocity. They were the most dangerous people met by the miners in the early days on the Pacific slope.
Equity34 demanded that this particular specimen35 should back his horse over the few yards to the point where the trail broadened, for the task was possible of accomplishment36, while the white men were unable to force their animals in safety for one-half of the distance behind them. Moreover, it was evident that this Indian had deliberately37 started over the trail, with the knowledge of the four white men approaching, so that a meeting was inevitable39. He courted an encounter with them and was in a murderous mood.
Vose Adams knew all this and recognized the warrior40 as one of the dreaded41 Indians, with whom he was better acquainted than were his friends. He had had several scrimmages with them on his trips through the mountains, and held them in such wholesome42 fear that he contrived43 to avoid a direct conflict. The diminutive44 miner overflowed45 with pluck, but in a hand to hand encounter, must be only a child in the grasp of the aboriginal46 giant. The present situation, however, was peculiar47.
There can be no doubt that this savage48 sought the meeting with the party, for on no other supposition can 205 his acts be explained. He must have reasoned that on the narrow ledge38 his enemies would have to meet him one by one and engage him single handed. He was like a chamois that had lived all its life in these wild solitudes49 and was surer-footed than any white man. What a triumph it would be (and was it unreasonable50 to expect it?) for him to slay51 the insignificant52 pale face immediately in his front, shove his mule over the precipice, and then serve the remaining three in same fashion!
“Get out of this!” were the words which Vose Adams addressed to the Indian, directly after the question of Captain Dawson to himself, and when the enemies were within six feet of each other; “there isn’t room for both of us; you knew that before you started; one of us has got to give way and I’ll be hanged if I do!”
Inasmuch as the red man did not understand a word of English, it is not to be supposed that he grasped the whole meaning of this command, but the situation must have made it evident that he had been ordered to back his horse and to open a way for the white men, and inasmuch as he had come upon the trail for the express purpose of bringing about this encounter, it seems hardly necessary to say that he failed to obey the order. Instead, he repeated some words in his own language, which it is not unlikely were of the same import as 206 those addressed to him, for he resolutely53 maintained his place.
“I tell you,” added Vose, raising his voice, as if that could help make his meaning clear; “if you don’t do as I say, somebody is going to get hurt!”
The warrior, who was carrying a rifle, stooped and gently let it fall beside him. At the same moment he let go of the thong54 which served as a bridle. Thus both hands were free and he crouched55 down with his hideous56 face thrust forward and took a slow, half-step toward Adams.
The coarse black hair
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CHAPTER XVIII A CLOSE CALL
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