The Lost Cabin Mine

Enemy

made our camp, somewhere about t

ache Kid had his partner's blankets undone in a twinkling and bade him lie down and go to sleep

eat anythin

I eja

eep, then

aid I. "I should like t

as that?

've just been thinking

the cup in which we sat, and the horses were all snor

going to sit round us, I suppose I 'd better make a fire; but I did n't want to. We 'll make a small one. You know what the Indians say: 'Indian make small fire

kulking brutes that went round and round our

nd then after he himself was one with the bushes. And there I sat with my weary thoughts beside the snoring man and the horses huddling close behind me, as though for my company, and the prowl, prowl of the coyotes round and round

l of fire flickering at my feet; but the glow of Apache Kid's cigarette reassured me each time, and though once I thought of asking

as the flip he gave to the pan that sent the pancake-or flapjack, as it is called-twirling in the air. And as he caught it neatly on the undone side and put the pan agai

going to the Placer Camp, and struck south right enough and went into the bit where we w

you acknowledge you w

"Why, drunk or sober, I never lo

're a disgusting sight when

ue. "I was sober enough to let the wind

me that there may be others on the track of us;

rom Baker City. I saw the stage comin' in from where I was lay

o the charge of a careless departure.

s Apache Kid told me, so that I knew he had been busy before I awoke. I felt a little easier at the heart now than on the night before, and less inclined to renounce my agreement and return. But suddenly, as we wer

and looked at

ggested turning back?" I aske

noghue wh

yed; but you would n't get

urned wrathf

ve us away? If you do, you 're off the scent entirely. It 's t

"Sorry I spoke, Francis. There 's my

ish the feel of that hand, somehow. He was a man

he caught himself up and said: "No, no, for the love of God don't d

t this man felt deep

an to threaten or to attempt coercion and I must add my voice to his and ask you to come on with us. Though

this," said I, feeling reproved

ettle River, gurgling and bubbling and moving in itself with sucking, oily whirlpools, and travelled beside it

stead of despondent to see. The sun shone down into its tessellated bed, all the pebbles gleaming. The rippling surface sparkled and near the islet was dappled over with the thin shadows of the birches that stood there balancing and swaying. And scarcely had we begun our meal when we heard a clatter midst the pebbles and a splashing in the water,

ded to us, passed on, and the babe slung

Indian never smiling. It was a great sight to me and I can never forget that islet in the Kettle River. Not one of the people stopped to talk. The men and the ol

t. "They're a fine pe

en you 've got a gun and

he Kid. "I 've lived a

em whisky, I guess, so as they

bought them a single bottle

ot comprehend this story of living with the Indians for no obvious reason. He looke

on the other mountainside and caught the occasional flash of the sunlight on a disk, maybe, or on a mirror, o

. But it was no picnic excursion we were out upon. We had come into the hollow of the hills. We were indeed at the end of the foothills, and across the valley before us the mountains rose sheer, as though sh

aid: "Shall we camp at the old spot? It's gettin' nigh sundown

ache Kid. "It'

here before

ed in each other's eye

d I had the idea that there was something behind

out at the one instant for a fa

ders, and they were posting alo

hester across his saddle pommel, and Donoghue following su

louds. Then I saw that one was a white man with a great, fluttering beard; the other an Indian, or half-breed. And just at t

want up here?" sai

ion, with a swirl and a rush, stopping short with

emen aware that there's no less than seven gentlemen followin' y

e Kid, "it does not sur

Pinkerton, for all who passed by to read above his hostel-"Half

ys: 'Dad,' she says, 'if you don't go and warn them, their blood will be on your head should anything happen to them.' Now, I don't want no blood on my head, gentlemen. And then she says: 'Well, if you don't go, I 'll jest have to go myself with Charlie-this is Charlie-Charlie, gentlemen-a smart boy, a goo

aid in a cheerful tone: "But they may never find out what way we 've gone. You see it was a me

inkerton: "but still th

id, and again: "We owe y

you!" said M

is this that you have c

in' you-there you have the whole thing,-how they 're to dog you up and wait till you get to your Lost Cabin. And now we 're here. But I want to let you know-for I 'm a proud man and would n't like any suspicions, though they might be nat'ral enough for you to harb

I have to thank you, and your daughter through you

Pinkerton. "W

are followed, and it would be the saddest thin

on, sir, but is Mr

ing grave in Old Kentucky,"

would be a sad thing to think of that fine

ton fr

y," said he, "you take a

ese men," said Apache Kid. "If we come back alive, we may all call and thank you again

wirl of leather while the half-breed laid the quirt, that swung at his wris

ed the rise and there suddenly they stoppe

id Donoghue. "Some

rton spoke of was against us aft

ose near the backbone of the rise and a flash of a ri

rute sink down to its knees, saw the half-breed fling hi

of them fall from the saddle and his horse rear and wheel, then spin round and dash madly across the

that my attention was concentrated, and round them th

" cried A

e ground and remarked: "She 'll not go far w

ping along the valley in the d

I clapped my heels to the flanks of my beast. Next moment we were all in line, with the wind whistling in our ears. The six men who seemed to be parleying with Pinkerton and th

exhibition of Do

terrible I ever heard, and, "Co

e it to-day," cam

oghue, and away we wen

itself was enough to suggest not so much that they were afraid of us (for Pinkerton had given them the name of fearless scoundrels) as that they did not want an encounter yet-that their time

d next moment he was down on a knee beside it, and, just as I came level with him, his

ess horse among the six and a man a

Kid and I could draw rein. I heard a rifle snap again behind me, whether Apache Kid's or Donoghu

it came level with me. He passed me and he and I-I now a length behind him-came level with the

ying shot

e man fall and then I up with my revolver and let fly at on

shot. But right on my shot my horse went down-his foot in a badger hole-and though afterwards I found that I had slain the h

irst thing, when I awakened, that I was aware of was that I was lying on m

ind my back and my ankles also

I had fallen somehow into