The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure Page 9

  CHAPTER IX

  _LOST CANYON_

  The four girls at Casa Grande were hardly awake that first morning,when a shout brought them to the window.

  It was Kit, seated on her spirited pony, that pawed the ground as shedrew him up by the wall.

  "Wake up, lazy girls!" cried Kit. "The Judge has been out for a ridebefore breakfast, and here you are missing the best part of the day.Come to the window and meet my friend, Powder."

  "Oh, Kit," called Bet excitedly, "is that Powder? Do wait and let meride him."

  Kit laughed. "As I told you before, if you want to ride Powder afterseeing how he acts with me, you can take a chance. He's trying to showme how much he loves me. Hurry up and get a bite to eat. I see Tommygetting the horses ready."

  Much to the disgust of Tang, the girls hurried through their breakfast,hardly knowing what they were eating, so excited were they over theprospect of a ride in Lost Canyon.

  "Are your western horses very wild?" asked Joy as she joined Kit in thecourtyard. "I--I don't know how to ride very well."

  "Don't worry, Joy! I brought you a safe one. We always give Dolly topeople who can't ride well. She's as safe as a rocking chair."

  Even Joy could feel no apprehension when she got into the saddle.Dolly was decidedly safe. On the least upgrade she puffed and stoppedshort to rest.

  "Poor thing! She's all tired out!" exclaimed Bet, watching Joy's horselumber up a heavy grade. "I think it's a shame, Tommy Sharpe, to letan old horse like that carry a load."

  "I do sort of feel sorry for that horse, Dolly," drawled Kit. "Joy issuch a heavy-weight that Dolly just has to puff. Why, she tips thescales at ninety-two pounds."

  Everybody laughed and Tommy drew in his horse and waited until Joy cameabreast on a level stretch. Then he reached over and dug into thehorse's side.

  Dolly leaped forward as Joy gave a cry of fright, but this only lastedfor a moment. Dolly's speed was soon over and she settled back intoher usually lazy pace.

  "That horse is a cheat. If I were riding her she'd step along livelywithout urging. But she has a lot of sense and knows who is on herback," laughed Kit, offering Joy her quirt, which she carried onlybecause it looked pretty. Powder never needed a quirt.

  "Dolly isn't so very old. She's lazy!" said Tommy.

  "Don't say that, Tommy. She isn't lazy, she was born tired," reprovedBet.

  Joy refused the quirt. "Oh, I just couldn't use a whip, Kit. I justcouldn't. Dolly's a nice horse and I wouldn't think of hurting her. Ithink you people are terribly hard-hearted and cruel." And as if Dollyunderstood just what was being said, she made for the shade of a largetree and stood still, and no amount of coaxing on Joy's part would makeher budge.

  "She won't do as I tell her, at all," pouted Joy.

  "Then maybe you'll accept a quirt now and say 'thank you'," and Kitextended the quirt once more.

  "I hate to use it," Joy looked bewildered, but the others were going onand would soon be far ahead. She brought the braided leather down onthe side of the horse. Dolly sprang into action, galloped for a fewminutes, then settled down to a jog trot. But by this time Joy wasgetting impatient. Again and again the quirt descended, and for a fullminute at a time the horse trotted.

  "Why you cruel, hard-hearted girl!" Bet shouted over her shoulder."How can you bear to hit that gentle creature?"

  Joy wrinkled up her nose at Bet and motioned her to go on.

  "Keep up the good work," called Tommy Sharpe. "We'll never get over toSombrero Butte to-day, if you let Dolly set the pace. I wish I hadgiven you Oso. That's a mean little imp of a burro. But at that Ibelieve he'd have gone faster than Dolly."

  "Oh, Tommy, I'd love to ride a burro. Will you let me, truly?" beggedJoy.

  "And so do I want to ride a burro, Tommy. I'm always thrilled topieces when I see the picture of one." Bet had a sudden inspiration."Let's have a burro party some day and all ride burros. I think thatwould be fun."

  "That's O.K. for me, if you ride them, Bet. As for me, I'll ridePowder," spoke Kit contemptuously. "Why should anyone want to ride oneof those contrary little beasts? I think they are horrid."

  They had suddenly followed a trail into a canyon, which brought themdown into the bed of a stream.

  "This is Lost Canyon!" Kit called to the girls.

  "I wonder how places get their names?" asked Bet. "Why did they callthis Lost Canyon?"

  "Nobody knows," responded Kit. "When I was a very little girl I alwaysfelt sorry for it. I truly thought it was lost and in my childish mindI planned to have the canyon find itself someday. Wasn't that silly?"

  The girls laughed heartily, and the echo of their voices came back tothem from the walls of the canyon.

  But soon they left the large stream and rode up over the mountain.Tommy had his heart set on reaching Sombrero Butte, a high andinaccessible peak shaped like a huge cowboy hat, that rose above aflat-topped mountain. On reaching the foot of the butte, the youngpeople drew rein and dismounted.

  "I'm glad to be on the ground again!" Joy exclaimed with a heavy sigh."I don't care for horseback riding very much."

  "What do you like, Joy? I mean in the way of sports. What do you liketo do more than anything else?" asked Enid Breckenridge.

  "I like dancing. I'm not as much of an outdoor girl as the rest ofyou. I go along, not because I like it, but I like the company. Nowit's different with dancing, I could dance all day and all night."

  "She's the ladylike member of The Merriweather Girls' Club," smiled Betwith an affectionate glance toward Joy. "She's a butterfly. As forme, I can't imagine why Fate played me such a mean trick as to send meinto the world a girl, when I'd just love to have been a boy." Betshot out the words with a vicious snap.

  "Say, you girls don't know when you're well off." There was a wistfulnote in Tommy's voice. "People expect so much more of boys and arenever satisfied with what we do, while you girls have your paths strewnwith roses."

  "Listen to him talk!" exclaimed Shirley. "I guess we girls have tostruggle to live."

  "And what girl wants her path strewn with roses anyway?" demanded Betin disgust. "I want to have to fight my way, I want to do worth-whilethings. Right now, if I were a boy, I'd try to climb Sombrero Butte."

  "Would you really do a silly thing like that, Bet Baxter?" asked Joyseriously. "I mean it. Tell me just why you'd do it?"

  "I don't know why, but I'd do it because it would seem like a big thingto do. It would be hard work and when I accomplished it, I couldalways say, 'I climbed Sombrero Butte'."

  "That's not much of an ambition. I should call that simply foolhardy!"Joy could never understand such a desire. It was too far away from herown temperament.

  "Then," continued Bet, "I'd travel. I'd discover things, I'd find anew continent or a river or something. I'd like to go to South Africaand dig for diamonds. That would be romantic."

  Joy laughed. "Now I can half-way understand that. Diamonds are worthwhile. If you were a man, whom would you bestow those diamonds on?"

  "You--most likely. Men who do big things always fall hard for ahandful of fluff like you," returned Bet, her eyes flashing dangerously.

  "And there you'd show your good sense," Joy smiled in a provoking way."I almost wish you were a man, Bet."

  As everybody laughed Bet soon regained her poise. Such flare-ups werefrequent with Bet, a sudden flash of fire and then calm. The girlsunderstood her and did not resent her bursts of impatience.

  Tommy Sharpe leaned over and picked up a small stone from the ground,exclaiming: "Look here, girls, while you're talking of discoveringthings, I find a treasure."

  "What is it?" cried Bet grasping Tommy's closed hand. "Let me see?"

  "An arrowhead!" Kit burst out contemptuously. "Not much of a discoveryin that. I'm sick and tired of arrowheads."

  "Why, I think it's wonderful to find one!" Bet examined the littlesharpened piece of flint. "I wish I could find one."

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p; "I'll let you have this one," Tommy offered.

  "No, that wouldn't be the same. To make it a real treasure I must findone myself," answered Bet as she looked longingly at the stone.

  The girls began to search the ground for arrow-heads, but Shirley wasthe only successful one and even her find was a doubtful treasure as ithad a large nick in it.

  "You don't need to worry, girls, you have all summer to findarrowheads, if that's what you want," laughed Kit.

  "I have a cigar box full of them at home," said Tommy. "I'd like togive you some. But now we'd better be going. It will be dinner timebefore we get back to the ranch."

  "Let's go!" Kit swung herself into the saddle and as Powder's spirithad returned he gave an exhibition of bucking and rearing that made Joyscream for she was certain that Kit would be dashed against the rocks.At Joy's scream, Powder took fright and madly raced down the steeptrail with Kit clutching the saddle horn for dear life.

  "Oh, Bet, she's going to be killed, I know it!" sobbed Joy. "Oh, Ihate horses. Bet, do something! Kit will be hurt!"

  "Don't worry about Kit. Just watch her and see how she sits in thesaddle, for all the world as if she were part of the animal." Bet wasfascinated by the skill with which Kit handled her horse, and she urgedher pony forward so as to watch Kit more closely. It took all ofEnid's and Shirley's persuasions to get Joy into the saddle.

  "Come on, Joy, don't be a silly! Kit's a trained cowgirl. That horsecan't unseat her."

  Knowing that she was headed toward home, Dolly kept up a steady trotthat covered the miles rapidly. There was no more stopping to pant andblow. Dolly knew that food and drink was waiting at the ranch.

  Just as they reached the end of the canyon and prepared to take thetrail to the ranch house, a slouching figure rose from the side of thecanyon.

  It was Kie Wicks.

  "Well, well, and what are you folks doing in the canyon this morning?"he asked, for all the world as if he owned the whole district andfeared that they were stealing from him.

  "I took them over to Sombrero Butte," replied Tommy Sharpe. "I'm toshow them all the interesting places in the mountains this summer."

  Kie Wicks smiled, but the girls could see that he resented theirpresence there.

  "That's a fine idea. I hope you'll bring them over to Cayuga. Maudewill show them around," he invited cordially, yet as the girls turnedtheir horses' heads up grade, Bet turned suddenly and was surprised atthe look of hatred and distrust that was in the face of the storekeeper.

  "I wonder why he dislikes us so much," thought Bet, but decided not topass on her knowledge to the others. Joy would be sure to get nervousand Kit might get into an argument with Kie or Maude and EnidBreckenridge would certainly tell her father and he would insist onthem having an escort, or not allowing them to go into the canyon again.

  So Bet kept her secret, and the girls did not suspect that Kie wasactively unfriendly, they thought him a brusque, ignorant desertdweller whose friendship they could depend on, if needed.

  They had not yet learned that Kie Wicks could not be depended on forfriendship or loyalty to anyone. He was a suspicious man, alwaysbelieving the worst of people, and when The Merriweather Girls showedan interest in Lost Canyon, old Indian relics, and even the pleasure offinding arrowheads, Kie Wicks was certain that they had heard of thetreasure of Lost Canyon and were going to hunt for it.

  And Kie Wicks considered that to be his own special mission in life.He believed implicitly in the old legend that there was a treasureburied in the canyon, and all of his spare time was used up in a searchthat had continued for ten years. Twice he had formed a company tolocate the treasure, he had spent all the money subscribed and hadfailed. Still his faith held that he would eventually find it.

  Maude usually tended the store and Kie spent days at a time driftingaround the canyons and hoping that he would stumble upon a clue thatwould reveal the hidden gold.

  He watched the girls ascend the steep hill, gazed after them until theydisappeared over the summit, then shook his fist toward the place wherethey had been.

  "Let them take care not to cross me. I can only stand just so much,"he muttered.

  Kie turned slowly away, mounted his horse and rode down the canyontoward Cayuga.

  Ahead of him was a great hole in the rock, an undertaking of his datedsome years before and financed by his friends. He frowned at thetunnel dug into the bank, then his frown became a scowl and a ferociousone, for a man was standing there studying the workings, so intent onit that he did not hear the approach of the rider.

  "What you doing there?" roared Kie Wicks. And as the man turned herecognized the little professor whom he had met at Judge Breckenridge'sranch the previous day. Kie laughed to himself. Here was one man heneed never fear. Inefficiency and irresponsibility were stamped uponever line of the little man's figure.

  "He's childish and perhaps a bit off," thought the mountaineer. Heturned to the professor. "That's a mining claim belonging to me. Ithas promise of wealth in it. You're not by any chance looking for somelikely claims, are you?"

  "No," replied the professor truthfully. "I've come out here to huntfor Indian relics."

  Kie eyed the professor distrustfully. To himself he said: "That's alikely story! Indian relics! What would a grown man want with them?"Then he turned to the old man. "You are in the wrong district," heasserted. "Who ever told you there were Indian relics in this section?Why, we don't even find arrowheads in this part of the country. Nowover on the San Pedro there's lots of mounds and things. There's whereyou ought to go."

  "That's a great disappointment. I've come a long way to unearth an oldvillage or something of the sort."

  "You're barking up the wrong tree, mister! There ain't nothing aroundhere."

  As the professor took leave and rode up the trail, his face was apuzzle. "That's queer," he sighed. "Judge Breckenridge certainly toldme that he had made some very important discoveries himself. But thisman who belongs here should know more about it. I can't make it allout."

  Even Ma Patten's good cooking and her cheerful chatter could notrestore the old man's optimism.

  "He's tired himself out the first morning," whispered Kit to hermother, after the professor had left the table and seated himself on alarge rock overlooking the canyon.

  Then, as they watched, they saw him slap his knee vehemently as hearose with a smile.

  "That fellow is a fraud! He's trying to mislead me! I know his typenow. He wants to keep everything for himself."

  He would have been certain of this if he had seen Kie Wicks emergingfrom the canyon. Kie shook his head decidedly. "There, I put a spikein the professor's gun. He simply wilted. I'm rid of him all right."

  But, as the horse followed the well worn trail, he mused. "There'streasure there, I know it! It's _my_ treasure! Mine!"