GIFT OF (^/a65 i,A /^^^ ■ 9^/ Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2008 witin funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/dianthasguesttalOOemilricli DIANTHA'S QUEST BY EMILIE BENSON KNIPE AND ALDEN ARTHUR KNIPE Girls of '64 A Maid of '76 A Cavalier Maid Polly Trotter, Patriot A Maid of Old Manhattan « « C ' t c < c t c c*^ e « c " e c t c < t "^ r S "^ IT WAS NOT A PICTURE BUT A MAP > > '> DIANTHA'S A Tale of the Argonauts of H9 BY EMILIE BENSON KNIPE AND ALDEN ARTHUR KNIPE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922 Jll rights reserved i>RIl^Ed il^ TfaE'UN'lTED STATES OP AMERICA Copyright, 1921 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1921. 7 FERRIS PRINTING COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A Jumping-ofF Place i II. A Mappe of the Lande of Faery . . .14 III. The Bidwell's Bar Express .... 23 IV. Fairy God-Mothers 40 V. Sam Adopts a Family 52 VI. Uncle Toby Has a Plan 67 VII. On the Trail 75 VIII. Indians 91 IX. "SittyDol!" 100 X. The Golden Fleece 112 XI. Little Timmy Cronin 125 XII. Buffalo 137 XIII. Dots to the Rescue 151 XIV. A Strange Indian 162 XV. The Trail is Blocked 174 XVI. At Salt Lake City 184 XVII. In the Witches' Mountain . . . .193 XVIII. News of Mr. Carter 207 XIX. Sour ball in Trouble 217 XX. The End of the Trail 227 XXI. Yerber Speaks Out 246 XXII. A Torn Map 262 XXIII. Sourball Walks In 271 XXIV. Sam's Wish Comes True . . . .287 5019^4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS T. It was not a picture but a map Frontispiece 2. Photograph of the old Pocket Guide to California 19 3. "In your wagon-box, besides my father's gloves" ^^ 4. Hurriedly he took off his red neckerchief 98 5. "There's Injuns, too" ; 143 6. "Me tell" .' 171 7. It was the map of fairyland he was hunting for. . 264 DIANTHA'S QUEST CHAPTER I A JUMPING-OFF PLACE ONE April day, in the year 1849, a little girl, dressed daintily, if cheaply, in gaily flowered calico, sat drawing with a pointed stick in the clean sand at her feet. She wore a straw sun- bonnet pulled well over her fate and seemed quite oblivious to the activities of the strange camp not far away. There many men and women, already accustomed to life under canvas, were making bread, washing clothes, scouring tins, mending harness, re- pairing the high tops of their wagons; busy, in a hundred ways, with the homely tasks which were their daily portion. Dotted here and there over the broad plains, stretching out like a green carpet to the west, were knots of cattle, mules, oxen and horses grazing under the watchful eyes of mounted at- tendants. Behind the camp, separated from it by the river, was the little town of St. Joseph, the last center of civilization that these Argonauts were to see for many a weary day. Above the noise of their activities came the cheer- 1 r?* s ;>t f : •*«;*t : i Di'antha's Quest ful shouts of the workers who seemed overflowing with enthusiasm. It was hard to believe 'that only a few short weeks before they had been living ordered lives, most of them on prosperous farms which they had never thought to leave, until news that gold had been discovered in California stirred them to undertake the great adventure they were now embarked on. The chiH, bent over her task, drew steadily on the sand. It became evident, as the sketch prog- ressed, that it was not a picture she was at work on but a map, and one that she held firmly in her mem- ory for she hesitated over no detail of it. Jumping up to carry it beyond the boundary with- in reach, she collided with a boy of about thirteen who had drawn near out of curiosity and had re- mained as absorbed as she in what she was doing. Annoyed at being observed, she at once started to erase her work with a foot the slenderness of which was ill disguised by the clumsy, thick-soled shoes she wore ; but the boy stopped her. "Don't rub it out, sissy," he said, **leastways, not till Fve showed you where you're plum wrong." He reached back as he spoke and pulled a pamphlet out of a pocket in the striped jean trousers he wore. "My name is not *sissy,' " the girl said, with a show of offended dignity. "I never supposed it was, but I had to call you something," the boy returned. "Now you sit right down here and I'll show you this. It's the real Con- A Jumping-Off Place 3 gresh^nal map, and it ought to be right/' He seated himself as he spoke and the girl slipped down be- side him, her sunbonnet serving now to conceal her amused smiles. *'Livin' near here, I reckon you talk to lots of folks who are hittin' the trail, so perhaps youVe seen one of these afore ?" He held out the book. As the girl took it, shaking her head in the nega- tive, a number of newspaper clippings fell from be- tween the pages of the thin volume, and the boy hastened to pick them up, as if they were precious. "Read that first,'* he suggested, selecting one. "Or shall I read it for you?" This last remark was inspired by the delicate consideration that perhaps such learning was beyond her, a fact which the girl divined and laughed at secretly. "Oh, I can read it," she said, and glanced at the frayed slip of paper in her hand. It had been cut from a number of The Literary American of New York and was dated December 30th, 1848. " *The streams are paved with gold,' " the girl murmured as her eyes followed the print. " *The mountains swell in their golden girdle. It sparkles in the sands of the valleys. It glitters in the coronets of the steep cliffs.' " "That's what their al-cal-dee said," the boy in- terrupted excitedly. "My dad says *al-cal-dee' is same as — ^well, not President exactly, but mayor or judge." 4 Diantha's Quest The girl nodded slowly and then read another sentence. " *The author may have thought that there was poetry in this but he knew, as well as we do, that there was no truth in it.' '* "That's what the editor writ," the boy cut in re- sentfully. "But he 'lows, further down, that there may be some truth in it. Anyway, I don't think an al-cal-dee would lie." "We know it's true," the girl remarked calmly, folding the paper and handing it back to her com- panion. "I've seen a man who was in San Francisco when .the first news came." "Honest?" the boy questioned as if he could scarcely believe it. "What did he say?" "He told us all about it," the girl went on, half indifferently. "A Mormon named Sam Brannancame swaggering down the street, swinging his hat in one hand and a bottle of yellow dust in the other, shout- ing *Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!' And then everybody seemed to go crazy." The boy drew a deep breath. "That's something to tell Dad!" he cried and made as if to rise; but sank back again, thinking, per- haps, that there was more news to be gleaned from this chance-met child. "Did the man who told you all that make a big strike?" he asked eagerly. The girl, instead of answering, looked up and put a question that would have brought an exclamation A Jumplng-Off Place 5 of astonishment from any member of the crowded camp near them. "Why do you care so much about gold?'' she in- quired curiously. "Care about gold?" he echoed in astonishment. "Why that's what we're all going after! Wouldn't you like to find a treasure all your own? Sure you would." "Yes, I shoul'd, if it were a beautiful treasure," she answered, her eyes glowing. "If it were dia- monds and rubies and emera-lds, that sparkled in the light. If it were soft silks and glittering satins, woven in all the colors of the rainbow. That is the sort of treasure I s-hould like. But just lumps of gold ! They would not take me across a country full of snakes, and wolves, and Indians, and buffalos, and musquitos ! No, indeed ! And why should you go ? A man can find work that pays wherever he is." The boy laughed at this outburst. "I want a good education," he said, "and that costs money. At least the kind I'm after does. And Dad come home from the Mexican war to find what business he had gone to the dogs so he joined a club artd, bein' lucky, the lot fell to him." The girl pushed back her sunbonnet revealing a flushed and very pretty face surmounted by a crop of curly red hair, and the boy gazed at her in sur- prise. Although she wa-s small it was obvious she was nearly his own age, and that he had not ex- pected. 6 Diantha's Qufest "What's the matter?" she asked, a shade irritably. "Do I look as if I'd brte?" "No, ma'am ! No, ma'am !" her companion splut- tered, "but I thought — I thought — ." "I know what you thought," she said, witheringly, her size being a sore point with her. "You thought that everybody of the same age came cut to -the same measure. Well, they don't, and you know it now! So stop staring and tell me about your father's club. What kind of a club was it?" "You must have heard of them," the boy insisted. "A lot of men meet every week and they buy all the papers they can get that have news in them about California. They talk of the big strikes and what kind of minin' pans out best and then they all pay dues, so much a week. When there's enougJi money to grub-stake a man, they draw lots to see who's to go. Well, my dad won. That's how it comes we're here." "I don't quite see what the men who stay behind get out of it," the girl said, musingly. "They get their shares of course," the boy replied in surprise. "There were ten altogether in Dad's club. He 'lows to make enough to put all t»heir feet on the mantelpiece for the rest of their lives — and t'wouldn't be nothin' unusual, accordin' to the papers." He patted his small bundle of clippings lovingly. "Did they send you, too?" "No," the boy acknowledged, "they even didn't A Jumplng-Off Place 7 want me to go, thinkln' I'd hold Dad back; but the others had families and business or farms they couldn't very well leave, and when we'd sold every- thing up we had enough of our own to pay for my grub and to buy me my pinto pony (I call her Tolka Dots.' *Do'ts' for shfort.) So I'm really richer than Dad. He only has a right to a tenth of what he makes and my strikes will be all my own." The lad spoke proudly as if already h*e had found rich tre'asures, as indeed he had many times in imagination. "And there ain't goin' to be any holdin' 'back done by Dots or me," he went on, giving rein to his fancy. *'We could ride rings around Dad's old oxen all day and not be tired, and w'hen we meet Indians or buf- falo it'll just be bang ! bang ! and all over with them ! Why even Dad 'lows I can shoot as straight as any sharp-shooter ever he met up with. And he 'lows my pinto is a great little mustang, if we did get her mighty cheap because she was sort of undersized." **My father used to say, ^precious things usually come in small packages.' " The girl smiled demurely to herself, as she remembered to whom this playful remark had reference. But the boy, full of his own ideas, merely nodded agreement and werft on. "Dots is strong an' wiry, like a mustang ought .lo be, and she's smart. She can do tricks already. Find sugar in your pocket, she will; and shake -hands; -and, 8 Diantha's Quest if she's loose, she'll come when I whistle. I tell you she's a rip-snorter, she.is!'' The girl watched him thoughtfully as she listened to his innocent boasting. She liked this boy. His speech was quite different from what she was accus- tomed to, with its defects of grammar and pronunci- ation; but she recognized *his genuineness and re- sponded to it it once. Feeling this, he continued earnestly. "Dots is the first real pet I ever had. You see I've been kind of bachin' it since Dad was to the war." "Bachin* it?" she irfterrupted, wrinkling her brow interrogatively. "What is that?" "It means livin' alone, like a man does who hasn't any women folks," the t>oy explained. "Dad left me to board with a family; but I just couldn't stand it. I hadn't nary place to study. The little children was always fightin' or howlin* fit to bust your ear- pans, and, wjhile all the boys was expected to take it turn and turn-about to do the chores, it was me that got the bawlin' out if they wasn't done ; so I up and quit." "But T^jhat did you do?" "I figured that rf I had to spend all that time on chores I might as well be pard for it, so I got a place where I swept out the store mornin's for the use of their loft to sleep and study in. They paid me extry for all the odd jobs I did, such as fillin' oil cans and runnin' errands, so I made out to live and got so I ^ A Jumping-Off Place 9 could recernize my own name again. I never heard nothin' but *you-Sam' at the Huttons.'* "Is your name Sam?" "Yes'm ! Vm Sam Brand, Jr. They call our out- fit *The S. Brand/ like we was a bunch of cattle.'* He laughed at the thought. **I am Diantha Carter," the girl introduced her- self gravely ; ;then l^ioked at him appraisingly before she added, seemingly satisfied by her scrutiny, "You may call me Di. I don't think mama would object, although she has cautioned me not to be too ready to make friends." "And she's right, too!" Sam declared unexpect- edly. "There's some mighty rough chara-cters jumpin' off from here, and a little lady like you had ought to be kind of keerful. Not that it's as bad as it must be goin' by way of the Isthmus," he added reflectively. "Tell me about the Isthmus," Diantha com- manded. "I know that it's the qmckest way to go West, but too expensive for — " She stopped abruptly. She did not intend to talk of their poverty to this new acquaintance. "That's right," Sam agreed. "It's too expensive for most folks. Of course it's the quickest way. Round the Horn's slow, and sure, and safe, and pretty comfortable; and we know what the prairie trails are. But the men who are sent out by rich clubs and the young bloods that, are goin' for the fun of it, hopin' to strike it rich and make their pile 10 Dlantha's Quest to add to what they have already — they all choose the Isthmus. And so do the gamblers." He ended. "Howdo you know so much about it?'* Di asked curiously. "Has your father been out that way?" "No," Sam shook his head. "No, ma'am. He hasn't never been to Californy. He fit — fought, I mean — In Texas. But a man named Riley passed through Warsaw, where we lived, who had come up from the Isthmus. He hadn't been to Californy neither and he 'lowed he wasn't goln'. Malary had took all the tuck out of him. He'd went down south a piece, countin' on makin' a fortune out of fruit- growln', but he said that mosquitoes so gosh-darned near et him up, — excuse me for tellin' it, ma'am, — that he didn't give a darn if the people up north didn't never have a cocoa-nut. He was plum glad to get home alive. Beside, he saw his way to makin' his pile anyhow, for he turned his little fruit-steamer into the passenger trade to Panama. He wanted Dad and me to go on her." "Why didn't you?" asked Di thoughtlessly. "Too expensive, for one thing. For another. Dad wasn't no ways sure we'd make better time." "Why not?" "Well," said Sam, "Mr. Riley, he used to tell me a lot about it. At first because he thought I'd worrit Dad into goin' by his boat, and later, when he found we was both sot on the other route, because it kind of eased his mind to say all the bad things he could think of about the country down there." A Jumping-Off Place 11 "Tell me what he told you !" DI, her round chin propped in her hand, was enjoying herself as she had not done since her father had repeated fairy tale after fairy tale, hardly waiting for her "Tell me another, papa. Just one more before I go to bed." "Oh, you must have heard all about it," Sam sug^ gested deprecatingly. "Not much," Di assured him. "All mama and 1 were told is that, if you pay enough, you get a won- derful cabin on a boat that is like a fairy palace, and you go to a place called Chagres ; and then you have a lovely time crossing the Isthmus to Panama where you find another beautiful steamboat waiting to take you to San Francisco Bay." At this Sam fairly snorted. "So that's what they tell women folks?" he said derisively. "Do you know what that puts me i^n mind of? There was once one of them artist fellers come to Warsaw and what does he do but paint a real hand-made oil painting of Lize Hutton. Hc?mely as a mud fence, she is, with freckles and red hair — " Diantha pulled her forgotten sunbonnet over her curls — "but that picture looked just like an angel — yet it was like Lize, too." "Then it's really different from the way they told us?" "Sure it's different," Sam averred. "Maybe you get one of the good steamers to start off ; bu^ unless you're born lucky you strike some old tub and, as ytni're in a hurry or you wouldn't go that way at all. 12 Diantha's Quest you take it rather than wait no one knows how long, for a better chance. But we'll 'low you get the good boat and that you ain't sea-sick. Then what hap- pens?" *Tou get to Chagres," said Di eagerly. "Some time, yes. But before that youVe got to eat every day, and youVe got to sleep some ; and there's three times too many people for the seats at meal-times and whenever they sight a dolphin, or think they do, every man on board rushes to the side and fires his pistol at it." "What for?" asked Diantha, startled. "Are dbl- phins dangerous?" "I don't know," Sam acknowledged honestly. "I don't rightly know what dolphins is ; but Mr. Riley told me that was what they did." "Mama would hate that, but I think the noise would be good for me. Perhaps I'd learn not to stick my fingers in my ears. And I'd always have the wonderful trip up the river to look forward to." "How do you suppose you'd get up the river?" Sam doled out his superior information in minute doses. "I'd engage a boat. That would be easy I" The *boy s'hook his head. "Not so easy as you'd think. When the ship anchors, all of the men make a rush for the shore, with their picks and shovels and everything they can carry on their backs. The quickest and strongest A Jumping-Off Place 13 get the boats. Fare, fifteen dollars a man, and there ain't never enough dug-outs to go 'round.'* "And what happens to the poor souls who are left behind?" asked Di, not unnaturally startled by such a picture. "I suppose they sit on the beach and watch the native men — and women — smoke their big black seegars!^ Sam grinned. "They don't get up the river, not that day anyway." "Go right on," said Di, half indignantly. "Tell me everything you know tha?t's horrid." "You asked me, and I'm only tellin' you how it is," Sam declared. "It ain't my fault. At Gatun, where people sleep the first night, there are no beds, only hammc/tks — ." "Mama would be afraid she'd fall •out. She'd never sleep in a hammock, I know." "Sh'e'd never sleep in one of those hammocks," Sam agreed grimly. "They're too full of fleas. And it rains and rains, and the water comes ^through the bamboo roofs by the bucket-full. Then, when you're 'most to Cruces, you have to bargain again to get a mule to ride to Panama, and each mufe steps 'in the mud-holes other mules have made, and the mud squirts up till no one could see if you was white or black. And at Panama there .are hundreds of people waiting for ships, because there ain't half as many of them sailin' in the Pacific trade as in the Atlantic — and maybe you never get to Californy after all !" CHAPTER II A MAPPE OF THE LAND OF FAERY DIANTHA CARTER had listened to Sam's too truthful tale of the difficulties of the trip across the Isthmus with mixed feelings. When his recital came to an abrupt stop she did not ask him for any more sordid details. Instead she said, with gentle positiveness but some haste : *That's the way you -think it is. Now I'll tell you how I see it. You go on a beautiful white boat like a floating pearl and you sail and sail over a blue, blue sea under a blue, blue sky with great white birds dipping and soaring around you. And the sea is so smooth that no one even thinks of being sea-sick but all enjoy every minute of the day. You watch the flying-fish that skim arcross the water like shining bits of silver, and no one shoots at the dolphins because they love to see them racing with the ship. And when a whole fleet of nautiluses come out to meet you—." **I never heard of them before, naughty what- do-you-call-'ems," Sam interrupted. 14 A Mappe of the Lande of Faery 15 "Nautiluses?" Di asked, "Oh, they're tiny boats that the fairies use when they sail to greet you or to wish you a prosperous journey/' Her tone was so matter-of-fact that Sam hesitated to utter the scorn- ful doubts which her words had roused, and Di went on. "Their satin sails shine in the sun, all pink and purple, and they lead you into the harbor safely. There graceful canoes await you — ." "I know there ain't never enough boats to go 'round," Sam muttered obstinately, determined to cEng to his superior information. Di waved her hand. "Graceful canoes await those who wish at once to pursue their journey," she said, smoothly. "For those who remain behind there is the hospitality of—." Here Sam could no longer conceal his incredulity. "There ain't but one hotel !" he exclaimed. "The Crescent City. It hasn't so much as a floor, and no food neither." "Don't interrupt me !" Di's tone was severe. "Re- member Vm telling you now. For those who remain behind there is the hospitality of the castle," she went on with a glance of triumph at Sam, who mut- tered, vanquished: "I did hear tell of a castle on the bluff." "Of course you did," said Di, serenely, "You're invited to the castle where lovely maidens with beau- 16 Diantha's Quest tiful hlack hair bring golden bowls full of rose-water for you to bathe your face and hands. Then they take you to a hall where you are served with a won- derful banquet and strange and delicious fruits of orange, and rose, and green. Here the tables are dec- orated with flowers such as you have never dreamed of, and toward sunset, in the cool of the evening, they set you on your way in the castle galley with gilded awnings and gay floating streamers, and at- tendants who wave gre^t soft feather fans and sing to you as you float up the stream in the moonlight. And, when the time comes to take the trail to Panama, you find waiting for you white mules with silken trappings carrying litters fit for a princess to ride in. And if there was mud you would never know it, for you would be high above it, watching the funny monkeys and emerald parrots and butter- flies like all the jewels Cortes ever carried back to Spain in his treasure-ships/* "I never -heard tell of him before," said Sam, deeply interested. *'How do you know such things ?" Di smiled a wise smile. "I know I I know!" she chanted. "I know more than I can tell. About great galleons full of gol'd and jewels. About rivers of pearl and mountains of emerald. About Panama with its ancient churches and cathedrals, its quaint houses with brightly painted verandas, like pretty bird-cages hanging from the walls. About the richly colored A Mappe of the Lande of Faery 17 awnings that stretch from roof to roof to shade the narrow streets from the hot sun. I know ! I know ! But I do not tell all I know,*' she ended provokingly. "By jings, I believe youVe been there !*' cried Sam. "You couldn't make all that up." To this Di made no answer. For the moment it wafs her tricksy fancy to be mysterious. Her mother, who never treated her flights of imagination ser- iously, had of late been her only audience, while her father, who followed when he did not lead her into the land of make-believe, was far away. But upon Sam Brand the girl's fantasies made a deep impression. He was at first inclined to be scornful of her words, but, as he listened and watched the glowing expressions on her face, he seemed to see pictures in his mind. Something within him stirred that had never been awakened by the hum-drum life of the small western town in which he had spent his thirteen years. So far, Sam's very practical existence had con- cerned itself almost wholly with the ways and means of earning a scanty livelihood. The people he had known before starting on this wonderful journey had talked chiefly of their cattle and their crops. Of story books he knew nothing, and when the Cali- fornia gold discoveries gave rise to exaggerated tales which were all too readily believed, the boy's starved imagination expanded so quickly that he was more than ready to follow Diantha Carter into any realms of make-believe whither she chose to lead him. 18 Diantha's Quest Moreover he recognized that this girl had an edu- cation which he lacked. There were certain refine- ments of speech and manner that showed a breeding he recognized but could not name. Thi's gave her a certain authority in Sam's eyes, and, ahhough in practical affairs he had full confidence in himself, here was a matter outside of his-expenence. He was almost ready to accept all that she might say without question. This new world of which Di had just shown him the threshold was strange and alluring and the boy began to doubt where fact ended and fancy began. **She might be one of them fairies herself, for all I know," he thought. Di also had been receiving impressions and, al- though she could not have put this clearly in words, divined that Sam Brand's mind was fallow ground in whrch she might sow some seeds; whereupon she accepted -him joyfully as a new plaything. "He'll never, never know how mu-ch I really be- Ueve of what I'm telling, and it will be lots of fun," she thought, and then, whi^msically, *'I wonder if I know myself?" "I got to be gettin' back to Dad," Sam said, with a sudden change of subject. *'If we're goin' to cor- rect your map we'd better get at it." He took his booklet from her and opened it at the title-page. "Read that," he suggested, "then you'll see it's what I told you, and it must be right !" POCMET mm lu imlFOBNIA A CHAPTER ON COLO FORMATIONS: A Mappe of the Lande of Faery 19 The Pocket Guide to California a Sea and Land Route Book containing a description of the El Dorado; its Geographical Position; People, Climate, Soil, Productions, Agricultural Resources, Commercial Advantages, and Mineral Wealth: with a Chapter on Gold Formations; also the Congressional Map, and The Various Routes and Distances to the Gold Regions. To which is added the Gold Hunter's Memorandum and Pocket Directory. By J. E. Sherwood "Westward the Course of Empire takes its way." Berkeley. New York J. E. Sherwood, Publisher and Proprietor For sale by H. Long & Brother, 46 Ann Street, Bereford & Co., Astor House, and the principal Booksellers throughout the Union California, Berford & Co. and C. W. Holden, San Francisco 1849 **It seems a good deal to put into one thin little book," Di remarked a moment later. 20 Diantha*s Quest "It's all there, just like it says,*' Sam assured her solemnly. "And I've read every word of it! Now here's the map," he went on, spreading it open before her. "You can see it ain't like yours." "Of course not," Di agreed. "Maps of different places aren't the same, silly!" Sam's mouth dropped open a little. He was not used to being called "silly" by one of the weaker sex. Indeed, had it been a boy who so named him, his retort would have been both prompt and vigorous. As it was he stood speechless while Diantha laughed at him. "You thought no one would bother now-a-days to draw a map of anything but the trails to the gold fields," she said briskly. "Well, most people wouldn't, but my map is of something much more wonderful." Provokingly, with considerable care, she erased the last traces of it as she spoke. "More wonderful than the diggin's!" Sam was thoroughly sceptical now, — "There ain't no such place !" "Oh, yes, there is !" Di said positively. "A beauti- ful land, with lilies of ivory and birds like flying gems; where every wind is scented by the flowers and full of the music of the birds — " "Are — are you talkin' of Heaven?" Sam asked diffidently. "No, no," Di assured him. "I'm talking of the place weWe trying to go to." "Are you goin' somewhere?" The boy was sur- A Mappe of the Lande of Faery 21 prised. Whole families, journeying the trail to- gether and carrying all their worldly possessions with them, were not an unusual sight, but these people were not of the class to which his new ac- quaintance obviously belonged, and he had taken it for granted that she had wandered over to see the camp from a substantial home nearby, or -had come across the river from the town of St. Joseph to visit. the crowded jumping-off place which, thus early in the year, was still a novelty. Suddenly Di started to her feet as if a recollection had just struck her. "I must hurry back to Mama,'* she said. "By this time she probably thinks Vm lost and has poor Uncle Toby runnin* everywhere hunting for me." As if to justify this prophecy a little bent, old negro came toward them. "Here he is now!" she exclaimed, then called, "Are you looking for me. Uncle Toby?" " 'Clare to goodness. Miss Di," the old man ex- claimed as he took off his hat and wiped his shiny bald 'head with an enormous bandana handkerchief. "Your ma she's jest havin' conniption fits over you." "Nonsense^ Uncle Toby. Mama wouldn't have a conniption if there was an earthquake and a cyclone and an eruption of Vesuvius all at the same time. She's the very calmest person I know," Diantha asserted. "Sttrc she is ca'm," the old man agreed. "Us 22 Diantha's Quest Carters has ca'm conniptions. That's the kind we has. Us Carters — " "Fm ready 'anyhow," Di cut into the flow of his eloquence, for she knew that once started on the remarkable qualities of "Us Carters'' Uncle Toby would discourse unendingly. "Good-by, Sam, I hope I'll see you again." "Good-by!" Sam, had he been given to "self- analysis would fiave been surprised at his regret at losing so new an acquaintance. "I dunno -about seein' me again. Dad he alms to tie-up to the first party he likes the looks of. I reckon we'll be steppin' out on fhe trail tomorrow or next day." Diantha shook her head in her own provoking way. "I'll see you again," she declared, and moved off beside the old negro who looked strangely oiit of place in the flannel shirt, butternut trowsers tucked into cowhide boots and the wide hat of the plainsman. Sam stood looking after the two reflectively, and while he gazed Di turned. "You know I have a map of my own. I'm going on a journey, too," she called. "Where are you going?" Sam demanded. Her answer came back to him clear and distinct through the still air. "I'm going to Fairy-land I" she said, and that was all. CHAPTER III THE BIDWELL's BAR EXPRESS DIANTHA and Uncle Toby moved slowly through the camp, picking their way care- fully amid a litter of miscellaneous objects scattered on the ground about the wagons. A fever- ish activity pervaded this curious settlement, and above .the babble of gossip one word seemed to be on every .tongue. Gold I Apparently it began and ended every sentence. The daily tasks were performed for but one object. The only news in which any mem- bers of that excited band were interested had to do with gold. From early morning till the camp quieted for the night the one topic of conversation was gold, and in their sleep these impatient emi- grants even dreamed of the precious metal. They awoke only to take up once more the endless discus- sion of the discovery that had set them upon a path filled with unknown dangers. Hour by hour fresh arrivals from the east added to the numbers of this heterogeneous assemblage and, as each new party came to a halt, they cried aloud for the latest word from the gold fields. And no tale was too fantastic for belief. Ex- 23 24 Diantha's Quest travagant rumors of impossible discoveries were accepted at their face value, and, in his heart, every man was certain that untold riches were to be his portion when once he reached the California foot- hills. The perils of the long journey ahead of them; the privations and fatigue of the desert marches, the pain and toil of climbing well-nigh pathless mountain ranges; the agony of the blistering heat of the prairies ; and the ever-present fear of snow in the Sierras ; these dangers lost their menace, because none doubted that when their goal was reached, gold was to be had in abundance by the simple process of picking it up from the encrusted ground. Who would hesitate to sacrifice everything or brave any hard- ship to reach so promising a land? To the west all eyes were turned. From their camp the path lay through a wilderness inhabited only by savages, and against these and the hazards of the road, parties were formed for mutual protection. Wagon trains, under the command of elected leaders, departed almost daily, and at -this and other "jumping-off" places such trains were organized. So far, the Carter outfit had failed to measure up to the requirements insisted upon by the leaders of these adventurous bands, and Mrs. Carter had begun to fear that they would be left behind. In all her carefully planned arrangements she had not foreseen the difiiculties that now confronted her, and The Bidwell's Bar Express 25 each day's delay diminished her store of provisions alarmingly. "I have had word that a man named Yerber is jumping off tomorrow with a train of thirty wago^is," she told Di as the girl and Uncle Toby reached the white, canvas-topped wagon which constituted their home. "Have you heard anything of it?'' "There's a lot of talk," Di replied. "They say this Yerber has been over the trail before and knows all about it." "Do you think they would let us go with them?" the mother inquired anxiously. "It won't do any harm to ask," Di said, briskly. She was as impatient as her mother to be upon the way. "I think I know where his outfit is. Let's try to see him this afternoon." They set out later on, pdcking a path between tents, prairie schooners and farm carts and asking a question here and there, until they reached the object of their search. This was a light wagon made with a bed of sheet- iron shaped like a boat and intended for just that use when swollen streams forced the travelers to ferry their goods. It was covered with a top of soiled canvas and painted in red upon the side were the words, "Express to Bidwell's Bar." Apparently the outfit was deserted, although the camp stove burned merrily. "He's gone for water," said Mrs. Carter, noting that the pails were missing from their place beside 26 Diantha's Quest the tar bucket which hung between the wheels. "We'll wait." "Be you any kin to Yerber?*' asked a young man who slouched up to them with the free and uncon- ventional manners of the camp. "No, Fm Mrs. Carter/* that lady answered pleasantly. "I wanted to see if Captain Yerber would let us join his wagon-train." "I dunno about that," the man returned doubt- fully. "Yerber ain't one to take on nobody that can't keep up. He's made the trip before, he has, and he means to be over the mountains before snow flies." Three or four other men came drifting over from nearby wagons, full of curiosity to know what two females might want with the redoubtable Yerber. "Yerber don't calc'la'te to have this no Donner party, ma'am," one of them volunteered, and then noting Mrs. Carter's blank expression, added, "Ain't you ever heard of the Donners?" Mrs. Carter shook her head. **Don't that beat all?" he went on, in a sort of sing-song. "Why I reckoned the hull world knew of the Donners. They was a big train, ma'am, what was caught in the mountains. They say you can see to this day how deep the snow was, because the stumps of the trees they cut down for fire-wood and huts is standin' twenty-five foot up in the air. One feller told me he didn't believe it till he climbed up and saw the axe marks." The BidweU's Bar Express 27 "That's dreadful I" Mrs. Carter murmured, with difficulty suppressing a shudder. "You bet it was !" another man declared. "An* it all come o' takin' on anybody what wanted to jin'e the outfit. You won't find Yerber bein' caught like that. He aims to travel, once he starts." "It's a man's job, ma'am," one of the by-standers put in, not unkindly. "I left my women folks back home. That's the place for 'em." "But I must go," Mrs. Carter said positively. "Can any of you tell me whether Captain Yerber will be here soon or not?" "He'll be here pretty quick, I'm thinkin'," was the answer from a man who eyed the hot stove with an amused smile on his face. "If he don't come soon his sinkers will be charcoal. I can smell 'em burnin' now." With an exclamation Mrs. Carter ran to the stove and threw the oven door open. "Make some place ready to put these!" she said peremptorily. "They'll be as heavy as lead if we let them stand in this cold wind." Immediately the men fell into confusion. They argued of this place and that till Di grew impatient. "A man can imagine only one place for biscuits," she said contemptuously, "and that's in his mouth. Here, Mama, put them in here." Impulsively she threw -back the lid of the wagon box and then stood speechless, looking down at something that lay within. 28 Diantha's Quest One of the men removed the hot pan from the oven, carried it to the box and clapped down the cover. "It takes a girl to think of a thing like that," he said with the utmost good-temper, "and here comes Captain Yerber now. I can hear him singin'." Indeed so could anyone else who was not stone deaf. Captain Yerber, evidently in the best of humors, was coming up from the water with a full pail in each hand, trolling out "Oh Susannah" in a voice that was seemingly more pleasing to the singer than it was to his hearers. "FU scrape the mountains clean, old girl ! ril drain the rivers dry. I'm o£F for California, Susannah, don't you cry! Oh, Susannah don't you cry for me. I'm o£F to California with my washbowl on my knee." He stopped abruptly at the sight of the gathering by his wagon and set down his buckets. "See who's here 1" he said jocularly. "Lady to see you, Captain Yerber," one of the men explained, then thinking to make it easier for Mrs. Carter, he added, friendlily, "wants to join our wagon train." "How many in your party?" Yerber spoke curtly. "Three," replied Mrs. Carter. "My daughter and I, and Uncle Toby." "\^at's your outfit?" The Bidwell's Bar Express 29 "Three strong white mules. A new light wagon. Enough food to take us to the Mormons where we intend to buy more.'' Mrs. Carter's heart was beating fast. So many trains had refused to allow them to join, fearing to be responsible for a woman and girl who had no real protector, that it was hard now to conceal her dread lest this should prove an- other such disappointment. "Say, Captain," one of the onlookers drawled, "I think I know their outfit. You campin' over on the sand bar?" he asked turning to Mrs. Carter. "Yes," the lady acknowledged, not knowing whether the man would prove a friend or foe. *It's the best little outfit on this side of the river," the man declared heartily. "I'd like mighty well to buy your mules, ma'am, — or swap 'em if you'd con- sider a swap." "I'm sure we need them even more than you do," Mrs. Carter returned with a smile, his words in her favor giving her a hope that at last she would have her way. "When do we start?" she added daringly. "The Yerber wagon train aims to jump off tomorrow morning at sun-up," Captain Yerber said non-commitally, "but I ain't easy in my mind about you yet, ma'am. Where's your men folks ? Why do you come to me? Can't this uncle of yours speak for himself? Is he sick?" "He's not my uncle, he's my servant," Mrs. Carter replied, as indifferently as she could manage ; but she 30 Diantha's Quest had dreaded the question, knowing the effect her answer had produced theretofore. Yerber gave a long-drawn whistle. "You mean to tell me," he exclaimed, "that you and this Kttle girl here aim to get to Californy with- out a man belongin' to you? Tain*t possible !'* "But we have Uncle Toby,'* Mrs. Carter insisted, trying vainly to control the tremor in her voice. "He is strong and well. We should not be a burden to anyone." There was an unmistakable murmur of sympathy among the rough men forming the group. They noted Mrs. Carter's distress and their hearts were touched. One after another put in a word for the "iittle woman," as they mentally called her. "Give her a chance. Captain. A man's a man even if he is hired. He can shoot a gun, I reckon." "She's got a right smart outfit I will say. She won't have no trouJ)le keepin' up." "And say. Cap, she saved your sinkers ! They'd a-been burned blacker 'an your off mare if it hadn't been for her." "My sinkers!" Yerber fairly shouted, dashing to the stove. "I clean forgot 'em." "Your biscuits are quite safe. Captain Yerber," Mrs. Carter said, quick to take advantage of the situation. "You see even a lone woman has her uses." "I ain't denyin' it, ma'am," Yerber returned, not ungraciously. The men about him were plainly on The BidwelPs Bar Express 31 Mrs. Carter^s side and he was eager to retain his popularity. Moreover he had no great fear that one wagon with good animals would delay the strong party he had assembled. If he accepted them, and worse came to worst, he could combine the Carter outfit with one of the others. **Then you'll let us go with you?" Mrs. Carter asked hopefully. "Well, well,'' Yerber began and seemed about to commit himself, when one of the bystanders spoke again, thinking, doubtless, to clinch the matter for the lady. **Mrs. Carter's outfit will make thirty-three. Captain, and everyone 'lows there's luck in odd numbers." It was the first time that Yerber had heard the name of the woman who stood before him and, at the mention of it, both Di and her mother, watch- ing the man's face intently, saw a change of expres- sion come into the small, close-set eyes. The look of tolerant good humor gave place to a shifty glance of cunning. "I ain't said she was goin'," Yerber told the man who had just spoken. "Leastways not in my train. I want to know more about this here Uncle Toby of yours, ma'am," he went on addressing Mrs. Carter. "I never heard tell of a lady callin' her hired help *uncle'." "Oh, that is the custom in Virginia," Mrs. Carter replied. She felt that for some reason Yerber had 32 Diantha's Quest suddenly changed his mind ; and her heart sank with disappointment. Nevertheless she tried not to show her emotion. "You see," she explained with a smile, "Uncle Toby was born on the Carter place. He has always belonged to the family, and — ." "You mean he's a slave?" Yerber cut in harshly. He felt sure of his position now, and began to bluster. "Well, ma'am, I don't hold with slave- ownin' — ." "But he is not a slave I" Mrs. Carter interrupted quickly. "He is as free as we are. He has been with us in many of the free states and could do exactly as he pleased. But he did not wish to leave us. He is our friend." "That's all very well to say," Yerber retorted, "but, whether it's true or not, we ain't aimin' to take blacks in this outfit. And what's more, ma'am, if you'll listen to my advice, and it's kindly meant, this country ain't fit for fine ladies that travel with their slaves or servants. You'd better go back to Virginy where you belong. Californy don't want you." He half turned away as if the matter were at an end, but one of the men stopped him. "Now see here. Captain — ," he began in a con- ciliatory tone, but Yerber wheeled on him with a snarl. "Am I mistook?" he asked angrily. "I thought you had elected me captain o' this outfit!" "So we did, but—." •IN YOUR WAGON-BOX, BESIDES MY FATHER'S GLOVES' The Bidweirs Bar Express 33 "There ain't goin' to be no buts !" Yerber went on, raising his voice. "It's me that has crossed the trail to Californy and knows its kinks. It's me that has promised to get you through in record time! If any o' you think o' bein' cap'n and mean to have the pickin' of the party, all you have to do is to notify me legal. Till that time, what I say goes. Understand that!" Once more he turned on his heel, but once more he was stopped. "You're forgetting your biscuits, Captain Yerber," Di said politely. "You don't even know where they are. "Where are they?" he demanded looking down at the small figure before him. "They're in your wagon-box," she returned, and throwing back her bonnet she looked him unflinching- ly in the eyes, "beside my father's gloves," she added, raising her voice so that all might hear. For an instant a profound silence fell upon the little group. Thieves were given short shrift in the days of '49, and there was a sharp challenge in the girl's tone. Every eye was fixed on Yerber. "What do you mean?" he cried, taking a step toward her. "I know nothing about your father's gloves." "I mean exactly what I say," Di returned steadily, facing the angry man. "My father's gloves are in your wagon-box." 34 Diantha's Quest "You must be mistaken, Di/* her mother mur- mured anxiously. "I am not mistaken," Di insisted, her eyes still upon the man. "I saw them. They are there now. Where did you get them, Captain Yerber?'* *'What business have you a-pokin' in my wagon- box?" Yerber demanded furiously; but the other men stopped him at once. "Stow that, Yerber," one of them said. "Your box was only opened to put your own sinkers in. If the girl saw what was in it she couldn't help that. Now what about those gloves ? We're all askin' you, ain't we, mates?" "Sure !" the others answered unanimously. "See 'here," said Yerber, "I don't mean to pay any attention to silly questions. Am I your captain or ain't I?" "You're our captain from the minute we jump off at sun-up tomorrow," the spokesman answered steadily, "and we ain't doubtin' now that you can tell the little lady where you got her pa's gloves." "You talk as if there wasn't but one pair of gloves in the world," Yerber snarled. "The gloves in there are mine. Make no mistake about that!" A trifle daunted, the spokesman turned inquiringly to Di, who replied disdainfully: "What right has he to gloves with the initials C. C. C. embroidered on them? Isn't his name Yerber?" "She sort o' has him there," one of the bystanders The Bidweirs Bar Express 35 whispered to another, hitching his pistol into a use- ful position. But Yerber had had time to collect himself. He had been in numerous tight corners in his day. This was no worse than many others that a glib tongue and ready bluster had gotten him out of. "As it happens my name ain't Yerber. It's Cyrus C. Coleman. Round the Bay they call me Yerba Buena Cy and that's where you get the Terber' from,'* he grinned. "C. C. C. Them's my letters Missy." The men looked from one to another, puzzled; but Di never faltered. "After all, the name doesn't matter," she said. "The point is that those gloves are my father's, and I can prove it." She turned to the little crowd who surrounded the strange contestants, "I embroidered them myself. Not very well, of course, for I wasn't as old as I am now, but my blue silk gave out — and you will find that the last C on the left glove is done in purple." "She saw it when she opened the box!" shouted Yerber. "I did," Di acknowledged. "That was what made me so sure. But there is still another proof, and everyone here can tell you that I never touched the gloves. Look inside that left glove and, on the gauntlet, beside the letters, you will find three little brown spots, like this." She stooped and made three 36 Dlantha's Quest holes in the ground with her finger. . • . "It's blood from a needle-prick." With an assumption of curiosity Yerber himself took the gloves out of the wagon-box and examined them. Then he showed them to the others, his tone entirely changed. "Don't it beat all how things happen?" he said genially. "Look, mates! The young gal's right. Here's the spots just as she said.'* The men hung back with more than a little reserve in their manner, and Yerber turned to the Carters, holding out the gloves with an air of bluff frankness. "You must take these, Missy, and give 'em to your pa with my best regards. Yerba Buena Cy don't want nobody else's property. That's one thing sure!" "Then you know my father and got the gloves from him?" Diantha asked, still fixing him with her steady gaze. "Lor' love you, no," Yerber answered. "I bought 'em off a greaser for two ounces. They was fine lookin' gloves. I was comin' back rich by way of the Isthmus and aimin' to make a show. But the card-sharps cleaned me out on the run home, so I've got to start right over again. Anyway, you take 'em, Missy. Tm pleased to hand 'em back to you." Although unsatisfied Diantha accepted the gloves. "Then you don't know my father?" she questioned slowly. The Bidweirs Bar Express 37 **No, Missy, least ways, what did you say his name was. Carman?" "No. Carter. Charles Carter Carter." Yerber shook his head. "Never heard th^ name before. Not that I re- member, and IVe a good memory for names, too. Now how do you suppose that Mexican got those gloves? Of course it ain't in nature to believe that a greaser came by anything honest; but your pa might just have happened to sell 'em to him, mightn't he?" "No," Mrs. Carter declared positively. "He wouldn't sell a thing his daughter had worked for him." "Most like the Mex stole 'em," Yerber agreed. "Where did you say you met this Mexican?" Mrs. Carter now asked. "Oh, I met up with him at Sutter's. That's a mile or two from Sacramento City," Yerber answered readily. "There's a sort of Greaser-town down the river a piece; but I wouldn't know him again if I fell over him. All these Span-i-ards look alike to me. He took out his biscuits and shut his wagon-box with a bang. "It's time I had my supper," he said with an air of finality. "And you positively refuse to let us join your train?" Mrs. Carter asked. "Cafn't be did, lady," he replied. "I'm captain 38 Diantha's Quest of this party, and every wagon in it has been picked because it was light and fast and able to keep its own end up without askin' favors. We aim to get to Californy and the diggin's long before snowfall. rU take no one on as might hold us back." He turned without further words and began the prepara- tion of his supper. Di laid a hand on her mother's arm. "It's not worth while, Mama," she whispered. "Let us go." The little crowd parted to allow them to pass. Now that the matter was settled the emigrants re- garded the Carters shyly. Everything seemed to be all right; the judgment of more than one man pres- ent coincided with their captain's, yet they all felt sorry for the two and did not know how to put their sympathy into words. "Evenin', ladies," one or two of the men managed to murmur, but the girl and her mother scarcely heard them. That night, before she went to sleep, Di asked her mother a question. "Mama, did you believe what Captain Yerber said about papa's gloves?" "I see no reason to doubt it," Mrs. Carter answered. "Well," returned Di, in a tone of deep conviction, "there may not be any reason in it, but Tm sure he's The Bidweirs Bar Express 39 not telling the truth. And what's more, I think he knows more about papa than he's willing to tell/' "You're an imaginative child, Diantha. Suppose you go to sleep," her mother replied. But Di, although she said nothing more just then, did not go to sleep for a long, long time. CHAPTER IV FAIRY GOD-MOTHERS THE next day Sam Brand found Di seated upon a grassy bank overlooking the river. *'What are you doin' ?" he asked as he slid down on the sward beside her. "Drawin' more maps?'* **No," said Di, "Fm just thinking. Puzzling and puzzling and not getting anywhere. I feel like the poor little girl in the fairy tale who was set a task that was too big for any mortal to accomplish." She sighed deeply. **Oh, well, sooner or later my fairy god-mother will come to my aid." *'Do you mean to say you have a fairy god- mother?" Sam inquired not quite sure she was in earnest. Di nodded with dancing eyes. "I have, — five of them," she said. "But, sad to say, the family carelessly forgot to invite one old fairy and that's the reason Fm so small. Instead of giving me a nice present she was mortally offended and decreed that my hair should be red, that I should be as small as an elf and wander over the face of the earth all my days." 40 Fairy God-Mothers 41 "But you did grow up/' Sam cut in. He felt obliged to preserve his sense of reality when he talked to this new found friend. "Oh, yes/' agreed Di, "but that was because one of my god-mothers had waited till the last to make me her present. She was afraid of what the bad fairy might wish for me, so after all the others had finished, she stepped forward and said: " *Her hair shall be red, but it shall be the red of gold and every hair of it shall curl. She shall be as small as an elf until she is a year old, then if she strokes a black kitten having one green eye and one yellow eye, she will begin to grow. She shall wander on the face of the earth until she finds the wishing- well; but when she drinks of its waters she shall have her first wish, the spell shall be broken, and she shall find a home at last.' " "You don't mean to say you believe all that?" Sam was now completely bewildered. "My father told it to me hundreds of times," Di replied gravely. "I was never tired of hearing it. Beside, when I was over a year old and was begin- ning to walk around, I was still so little that they lost me in the garden among the rose bushes. They hunted and hunted and couldn't find me, but at last I came back all by myself and you'll never guess what I carried. A fat little black kitten." "Oh well, they's kittens everywhere," Sam grunted. He was chewing a stalk of grass industri- 42 Diantha's Quest ously and thought it manly to disguise his interest. "We was always drownin' of *em in Warsaw.'* "Ouff!*' Di shuddered, "I think that's horrid! But anyhow this kitten wasn't like other kittens. My father had hunted everywhere for a black kitten for me. He probably knew Fd'hate to be so small. But every kitten he found had a white breast or a white paws or a few white hairs somewhere, and none of them had different colored eyes." "You mean you'd come back with a kitten with one green eye and one yeller eye? I never heard tell of such a thing." Sam sat up straight in his astonishment and Di chuckled with delight. "Yes," she said, gravely, "but I don't think it was a real cat. I think it was a kobold sent by my fairy god-mother. At any rate it was never like other cats and at the end of seven years it disap- peared as mysteriously as it had come." "Got shot for killin' somebody's chickens, most likely," Sam grunted. "I don't think so!" Di spoke positively. "Any- how from the time I found it I began to grow. Though I haven't caught up yet with girls of my own age," she ended with a sigh. "At all events you ain't a wanderer on the face of the earth," Sam suggested sceptically. "Indeed!" Diantha exclaimed. "Am I not? Listen. I was born in New Preston, Connecticut, at Grandma Kingsley's. From there, when I was six months old, we went to Grandfather Carter's planta- Fairy God-Mothers 43 tion, Eastover, in Henry County, Virginia. Then my father took us to Kentucky. Next we moved near Bryant's Station. Then we went into Missouri to St. Charles—" *'I come from Missouri, too," Sam interrupted. **Warsaw, Benton County." "We didn't stay very long in St. Charles. It was too civilized for father who was always pushing out to the frontier," Di went on, "so at last we went up the Gasconnade to start a lumber mill. They floated the lumber down on rafts, and father made a lot of ntoney. But it wasn't interesting. Just the same old thing every day. He sold it and took us out to Charaton and started off trapping. He likes that life. There's some adventure in it." "And now you live here?" said Sam. Di looked at him in surprise. "Now we don't live anywhere," she retorted. "You can't call it living to be crowded into a wagon that smells like a country store, with coffee and bacon arfd blankets and flour and clothes and so many other things that you don't have room -to -turn over in your sleep." "Do you mean to say you're jumping off from here? I thoug'ht you Jtold me you were going to Fairy-land." Di laughed a trifle ruefully. "I like my name for it better than yours," she answered softly, "but we aren't starting from here. Not yet, at all events. You see there ^re only three 44 Diantha's Quest of us. Mama and me, and Uncle Toby. You saw him the other day. And none of the trains are willing to take us, because we have no white man with us to protect us.'* Sam emitted a long, low whistle. "I might have knowed it,*' he exclaimed. "You belong to the *Angel Mules,' and it was you faced Yerber down last night and made him give up your pa's gloves ! Why we 'most went with that outfit," he went on. "Only my Dad he couldn't stand Yer- ber nohow, so we drawed out. Dad allows that if they do reach the mines a month or so before we do, they won't clean the hull place up In that time. There'll be some pickin's left for us." The boy laughed comfortably. He shared the belief of all the early emigrants that the gold supply was inex- haustible. "I don't like Mr. Yerber, — not because he didn't take us with him," Diantha was reasoning this out as she talked. "He had a duty to the rest of his party, I grant; but I don't believe that was why he didn't take us. And why did he give me those gloves if he meant to get them back again?" "Did he try to do that?" Sam's tone was startled. "Yes," Di nodded, "At least I think so. At any rate mama was asked to call and see the baby of a poor family who didn't want to go to the expense of a doctor unless it really had cholera. It was dark and I wouldn't let her cross the camp alone, and Uncle Toby wasn't willing we should go without Fairy God-Mothers 4S him; so he took a lantern and we all went. When we came back everything in the wagon was upside down; but not one thing was taken." '*What makes you think k was someone after the gloves?" Sam asked. "They weren't stolen, you say." ''No," returned Diantha dryly, *'I had them with me, that's why." Sam whistled thoughtfully. Whistling was always a great help to him. "Didn't nobody see who meddled with your stores?" he asked. "There's a Conestoga wagon camped near us," Di expla/ined. "It's packed so full of goods that the people live in tents. The woman told mama that she went outside after putting the children to bed and saw a tall man near our outfit. She called out to him that we had gone over to see the Cronin baby and he grunted something and walked off in that direction. She didn't think anything more about it till she heard what had happened." "CouMn't she tell you what the man looked like?" "It was too dark. He went off in a hwrry and stumbled over a tent rope of that party that call themselves the Blue Grass Boys." "Maybe someone there saw him," Sam suggested eagerly. "Maybe," Di agreed, "but they all jumped off this morning, so we aren't likely to find out." "Oh, that ain't no ways certain," Sam said. "They 46 Dianfha's Quest tell me that people are forever catching up an' pass- ing each other on the road. If ever I meet up with that outfit I'll ask 'em. The Blue Grass Boys," he repeated the words several times to fix them in his memory. "I can't see that it matters much," said Di, "so long as no harm was done and nothing taken. Mama had a scare, though," she added. ^They'd upset her precious vinegar jug and she thought it had all been spilled and was about ready to cry." "Is she that fond of vinegar?" Sam was puzzled. "She counts on it .to keep off scurvy, and mother is as wise as twenty doctors, so if you haven't a jug of vinegar you'd better tell your father to buy one. You know we've months ahead of us without a chance to get green food. Fortunately Uncle Toby had driven the corncob stopper in so tight that none of ours was lost." "How did your ma learn about doctorin'?" Sam asked, always curious to hear how anyone had acquired special knowledge. "I do' know but may- be I'd like to be a doctor myself." "She just seems to have an instinct for it," Dian- tha answered, "and then, when I was very little, she lived for a while with Grandfather Carter in Vir- ginia. They have a great many slaves there, and of course they can't call in a doctor every time one of them is lazy and claims to have *a misery' to get out of working. So their mistress learns to tell if they are really sick or not and what to do for their Fairy God-Mothers 47 little ailments. Of course mother says she picked up what she knows from Grandmama Carter but I have my own opinion and so has Uncle Toby.'* Diantha managed to look very mysterious as she ended abruptly. "Oh, go on," said Sam, "tell me what you mean." "Uncle Toby says that down on the plantation all the hands knew that they might fool 'OP Miss' into thinkin' they were sick once in a while but never *Little Miss.' That's mama. *She done got a gif'/ Uncle Toby says. *We all knows it'. And," added Di with a chuckle, "I know where the gift came from." "Where?" asked Sam, open-mouthed. "From her fairy god-mother!" declared Di. "Does all your folks have fairy god-mothers?" the boy questioned a trifle enviously. "It's my opinion that most people have them," Di insisted stoutly. "Most everybody has some- thing that they do very, very well without any ef- fort on their part. That's their gift from their fairy god-mother. Of course if you're stupid and stubborn and won't believe in fairies they don't take the trouble to let you see them, and perhaps I'ose interest in you altogether; but that's your own fault." "I guess the fairies was all asleep when I was christened." Sam whistled ruefully to himself, and Di laughed. "There was at least one of them awake!" she 48 Diantha's Quest declared. "I never heard a boy who could whistle as you can. It's like a mocking-bird, and certainly some good fairy bestowed that gift on you.'* ^'Land's sakes!" cried Sam, astonished. "You don't mean to say you like to hear me whistlin'? Why I got more cuffs for that at the Huttons' than for anything else. I try not to do it, but it comes so natural sometimes I just forget." "Exactly!" said Di complacently. "It's a fairy gift. You just can't help it, and if I were you, now that you're away from the Huttons, I wouldn't try." The two sat silent for a while after this, the boy pleased and surprised, but too shy to try to express his pleasure. The girl, already forgetting Sam in the serious worriment their predicament occasioned. At last she heaved a long sigh an*d jumped to her feet. "This isn't getting us a place in a wagon-train," she said briskly. "And unless we can start in the next few days we might as well sell out and go back to Grandpapa's in Virginia, which would be a sad blow. For very many reasons it's the last thing in the world Mama and I would do willingly. Indeed, rather than that, I'll persuade her to go on alone. We ought to go, no matter what the danger." She did not explain to Sam, that everyone in his family had disapproved when her father had left home and gone west taking Di and her mother, all predicting freely that he would only return with them to be a charge upon the estates when his thin purse Fairy God-Mothers 49 was exhausted. She did not tell him their urgent reasons for hastening to California, nor did she ex- plain that their money and supplies were both scanty, and, fortunately for her pride, Sam put his own interpretation upon her words. "It's time we all was movin',** he said. "We don't none of us want to be caught this side of the mountains when snow flies." "But the trouble is that no one will take two women !'' Di burst out bitterly. The distress and anxiety in her voice gave Sam Brand his first hint of a new side to the character of this strange girl. He looked at her in surprise. Heretofore her mood had been gay and full of laughter. Most of her talk had been fanciful and unfamiliar to his ears. She had attracted him be- cause he had never come into contact with anyone who had seemed so little concerned with the every- day realities of life. Now she had suddenly shown him that she was deeply interested in the activities about them. Her outburst was plain evidence that she was as keenly desirous of starting for the promised land as he was. Here was no talk of fairies, but the frank statement of a difficulty that the boy understood perfectly. "There must be some outfit will take you along," he said, encouragingly. "But there isn't," Di returned. "WeVe begged and pleaded with one leader after another; they're 50 Diantha's Quest all afraid we'll hold them back. Just because we're women." "There's lots of women going," Sam replied. "Look at that Tupper outfit. Five of 'em!" "But they have a man to look after them," Di retorted, half angrily, half hopelessly. "We have Uncle Toby, only they don't count him I But they shan't keep us back," she went on, her resentment growing. "We'll get to California, if we have to go alone." "You couldn't start off by yourselves, not you two ladies I" Sam protested earnestly. "Why couldn't we?" Diantha cried. "We have a good outfit. We have as much sense as a Mr. Yerber or a Mr. Cronin, haven't we? We can put up with as many hardships as anyone. Why shouldn't we go alone?" "I dunno," the boy murmured a little bewildered. "It ain't done, that's all." "Then it's time it was done !" Di insisted vehe- mently, as she rose to her feet. "Nobody shall keep us back just because we haven't a white man in our party!" Sam looked at her in astonishment as she stood for an instant gazing out to the west The golden light of the after-glow shone upon her face and burnished her coppery hair. Her head was thrown a little back as if she challenged the boundless plain before her, and her small figure quivered with deter- mination. Fairy God-Mothers 51 "We must go ! We must go !'* she murmured and then, without another word, as if indeed, she nieant to start that very moment, Diantha Carter walked quickly away, leaving the boy gazing after her in wide-eyed wonder. CHAPTER V SAM ADOPTS A FAMILY AFTER Di had left him Sam Brand sat still, thoughtfully digging at the sandy soil with the toe of his boot. Finally he stretched out on his back with his hands behind his head looking up at the great white clouds that rolled across a sky of deepest blue. For some time he lay thus in silence but at last he began to whistle. Not any familiar tune, but a flood of musical notes such as a bird might pour forth. Indeed Diantha Carter had described the performance well when she said that it was like a mocking-bird. A man, letting his heavy frame down slowly on the grass beside the boy, brought the whistling to an abrupt conclusion. "You can keep right on, Sammy,'' Sam Brand, Senior, remarked half apologetically, the apology being intended for his own parental weakness, "your noise don't annoy me much." "Do you know, Dad, someone told me today sh — they liked my whistlin' — " He was interrupted by a chuckle from his father. "Land sakes, Sammy!" Mr. Brand cried, "are 52 Sam Adopts a Family 53 you as old as that? For it's dollars to doughnuts 'sh-they' wore a sun-bunnet." "It wasn't just a girl like Lize Hutton," Sam said gravely, refusing to be disconcerted. "It was a lady. An educated one.'* "You set great store by education, don't you, Sam- my?" The man spoke with a sort of awe in his tone. "There's such a lot to know. Dad," the boy mur- mured. "Well," his father continued, "readin', 'rithme- tic, and a little writin', is all the education I ever had or felt the need of." "But there's heaps of learnin' beside that," Sam insisted. "I dunno how much, but I 'low there's things in books would surprise you." "Maybe," agreed the elder Brand complacently. "Maybe! I ain't sot agin' education; but readin' the papers was allers enough for me. As for writin', I can do my name as good as any man, with a flour- ish to the end of it like a school teacher. Fact is, Sammy, I allers 'lowed it looked right down ignor- ant to sign your papers with a cross. I ain't learned, but I ain't dumb neither." "But Dad." Sam sat up and looked earnestly into his father's face. "There's things that I never thought of." "What kind of things?" his father demanded. "Oh, I dunno," the boy replied after a long moment's silence. His thoughts were still with 54 DIantha's Quest Diantha Carter, but he hesitated to take his father into his confidence about her as yet. "Well, sonny,'* Mr. Brand remarked slowly, "if so be we make our pile, I won't lay nothin' in your Way. I 'low you won't look down on your old father because you happened to go to one of these here colledges and he didn't." "I ain't never thought o' a coUedge!" Sam ex- claimed. "High school was what I was aimin' at. A feller has to know a lot to go to colledge. Dad." "I don't see as you're so thick-headed you can't be learned!" The father bristled at the thought that this son of his, in whom he took an immense pride, could not hold his own with the best. "All you need is money to pay someone to teach you, and Sammy, my boy, we're going to find that out there!" He threw his arm in a wide gesture toward the west, and for a moment or two they sat, each busy con- juring a picture of the riches that were to be theirs. "Dad," Sam questioned eagerly, at length, "when do we jump off ? I'm plumb anxious to get to work. I feel as if I'd go crazy sittin' idle and thinkin' that if I was only there in Californy I'd be shovelin' up nuggets, fast as I could stoop over." "It won't come as easy as that, Sammy boy," his father cautioned gravely. "We'll have to sweat for what we get, I reckon ; but the gold is there and we won't grudge the work to get it out. And I tell you another thing, sonny, we won't throw it away as fellers like Yerber do," Sam Adopts a Family 55 "Thow 14: away?" Sam repeated wonderlngly. "Might as well," replied his father. "Yerber made his strike out there, and what did he do with it? Gambled it away between the Golden Gate and Panama. What was left disappeared goin^ up to New York. He told me about it himself. Seemed kind o' proud of it. He said the man who'd won his money staked him to this trip. Yerber naturally expected the feller would want a share; but no, he said he'd win it all back next time before they got to Gatun, and I guess he will." Mr. Brand shook his head in perplexity. "Beats me how a man can be such a fool!" he murmured. "Is that the reason you didn't go in Yerber's out- fit?" his son asked. "No," was the slow answer. "Can't say as it was exactly. Fact is I've been kind o' kickin' myself 'cause I didn't go with 'em, after swappin' our ox- teams for horses jes' so we might. We'd a-been twenty-five miles on our way if we had; but it seemed like I couldn't stand Yerber nohow. Can't give a name to why I couldn't cotton to the man, but — well, he kind o' stuck in my craw, Yerber did." At that moment a hail interrupted this Intimate conversation and one of the emigrants, a man named Tupper, came up to them. "You're the feller I'm lookin' for," he announced to Mr. Brand. "Set down and tell me about it," came the smiling invitation. 56 Diantha^s Quest Ain*t got time to set/* Tupper explained. **I was wonderin' had you made any arrangements for company on the trail?" "Not yet," said Brand shortly. "Well," Tupper went on, "IVe heard o' quite a number o* outfits that are kind o* at loose ends, not quite knowin' who to -tie up to, or perhaps not swift enough for the BidwelPs Bar Express." "There's a good many wasn't swift enough," Mr. Brand remarked cautiously, "but Fve been thinkin' maybe Yerber has the right idee. It ain't necessary that every outfit should be an express, but I 'low everybody in a party ought to be able for about the same speed. If one wagon lags behind, it stands to reason that the rest of the train has to hold back similar." "Jes' so," Tupper agreed. "O' course, once we're started, we're obliged to stand by each other and keep together. I ain't much afraid of Indians raidin' a big party, but I reckon there's some bad ones would make short work of a lone wagon." The boy, listening eagerly to this talk, turned sharply to Tupper. "Do you think there's danger, real danger, I mean, of a lone outfit bein' attacked by Injuns?' "I don't think it, I know it!" Tupper declared positively. "Why, no longer ago than yesterday, a pack train came through from the diggin's what had been ambushed near the South Platte." "I seen them fellers," Mr. Brand put in. "They Sam Adopts a Family 57 was travelin' fast and light. Kind o' silent I thought they was." *'They said plenty about the Injuns,'* Tupper went on, volubly. "Seems they was just ready to camp down for the night when they was attacked." "What did they do?" asked Sam excitedly. "Well, they made their animals lie down in a ring," Tupper explained, "and shot over 'em, as the Injuns rode circles about the camp. O' course the savages didn't have nothin' to sh-oot with 'cept bows, but these strangers said you'd be surprised at the force of them arrows. One of 'em came right through a horse and nicked the feller behind it in the shoulder. Fact ! He showed me the arrow." "I've seen 'em send an arrer clean through a buf- falo down in Texas," said Mr. Brand. "Indians is treacherous animals. If they think you're weak and can't put up no fight, why you ain't got no show with 'em at all." "Then nobody ought to take the trail alone, ought they?" Sam suggested anxiously. "Not if they calculates to get through alive," Mr. Brand said, emphatically. "But there ain't anybody fool enough to 'try." "At any rate we're wastin' time now," Mr. Tup- per Interrupted reverting to the subject which had brought him there. "What I wanted to tell you was that I'm going to call a meetin' tonight to arrange a party, and I'd be glad if you'd come." "Sure, I'll come," said Mr. Brand jumping to his 58 Diantha's Quest feet, "but there^s two or three men Fd like to have there, if you don't mind." "I'd be pleased to see 'em," Tupper replied readily. "I'd li'ke to get as good an outfit travelin' together as we can, and if you know o' any able for it, why bring 'em along." "I'll go round 'em up now," Mr. Brand replied and the men moved off together leaving Sam a prey to anxious thoughts. "Them two can't go alone !" he murmured to him- self, and lay back on the grass to puzzle a way out of the difficulty. For a long time he remained mo- tionless and then, suddenly, he broke into a whistle with a note of joy and hope in it, as if he had found a solution of his problem. "What they need is a white man to look after their outfit," he said aloud, as he jumped to his feet and started rapidly toward his own camping place. The meeting called that night by Tupper around his camp-fire progressed amicably to an agreement. All were ready to start and only awaited the op- portunity. An election was held and somewhat to his surprise Mr. Brand was made captain of the party, for the reason that, as there was no member with previous experience on the trail, it seemed best to select an old soldier to command them. Finally a list was made of the men present and their dependents, the idea being to put numbers in a hat and let each emigrant draw for the position of Sam Adopts a Family 59 his outfit in the line, thus avoiding any contention that one was favored above another. When it came Captain Brand's turn to declare the members of his party he said: "I got a wagon with four horses, and my boy Sammy's got a mustang." But Sam Brand, Junior had done considerable thinking after his father had left him on that grassy bank and now he spoke up manfully, just as if his heart was not beating to suffocation. "I'm on my lone, you know, Dad. I had ought to be entered that way." "Why so you are, Sammy, so you are," his father returned, puzzled and seeing no point in the boy's contention; but it was not a matter for serious argu- ment and the name Sam Brand, Junior was entered on the lists. "An' I got a party," said young Sam, turning a little white. "You've got one right smart little pinto pony," his father smiled, "if you call that a party." "I got more than that," said Sam, braving it out. "I got three fine mules, an' a wagon, an' a hired man to drive it — " "You got a sun-stroke or something, Sammy!" exclaimed his father, not able to explain what he heard in any other way, and he added anxiously. "Where does it hurt you? Is it your head?" and ended with seeming irrelevance, "I always did allow that all this education was weakenin'," 60 Diantha's Quest "There ain*t nothing at all the matter with me, Dad,*' said young Sam, brushing this paternal soli- citude aside. "IVe got just what Fm tellin' you — an' two ladies beside/' Naturally the effect of this announcement was not small. Everyone present felt the surprise of it and a moment of silence fell on the group which Sam was the fir^ to break. "It's a good outfit. It won't hold nobody back," he declared firmly. **An' me and the man won't have to ask no favors of nobody." "Now listen here, sonny," Mr. Tupper broke in upon him, "that's all right enough; but we under- stood you and your father was alone. We don't need any more women-folk!" "Perhaps you don't," said Sam, with a smile that he tried to suppress, for he knew that Tupper had a masterful wife and four hoydenish daughters, much sought after at the camp dances; "but you see I ain't got no women-folks but these two, and I got as good a right to a family as any other man of the party." "Well, I guess Captain Brand is the one to say if this wagon-train will take on new members or not," Tupper muttered discomfited, for he had heard a little laugh go around the circle at Sam's reply. Captain Brand nodded gravely and accepted the responsibility. "Whose outfit is this, Sammy and what do you Sam Adopts a Family 61 know about them?'* he asked practically, his fears for his son's sanity at an end. "It belongs to Mis' Carter/' Sam replied. "You call it the Angel Mules." "And who is the second lady?" Brand inquired with a twinkle in his eye, "Mis' Carter's mother?" Sam turned pink at this but held his ground. "It's Mis' Carter's daughter," he returned briefly. "And *sh — they' want to go to California, do they?" "Now see here. Dad," said Sam, "you quit your joshin' and listen. These two's got grit. They're planmn' to set out alone if they can't sign up with some train, and I heard you 'low this mornin' that that wasn't safe." "It ain't," Brand agreed. "Well, from what you say, Sammy, I guess there's nothin' for it but to take 'em on if they can keep up with us; but I got to satisfy myself they won't hold the rest back. Those Angel Mules may just be fat and white and sleek. The kind of animals a lady likes to make pets of." "They was good enough for the Bidwell's Bar Express," snapped Sam. "I guess they'll be able to keep up with us," He was decidedly touchy about the Angel Mules. "You-all can leave it to me," Captain Brand said, turning to the other men. "I'll look 'em over to- night before we turn in, meanwhile we'll put the name in the hat with the others and Sammy can draw 62 DIantha's Quest for 'em. If I don't take 'em, no one will be a mite worse off. If I do — ^Well, I guess my son and me can look out for 'em." "Captain," a shy little man put up his hand like a schoolboy asking his teacher for permission to speak. "I'm listenin', Cronin," said Brand in surprise. "This Mis' Carter," said Cronin, "she's a real lady, captain, like them up at the castle at home." "You mean she's Irish?" asked Brand, puzzled. "No, no, she's not off the sod," Cronin hastened to explain, "for all that, captain dear, she's off the same piece with those ones. She's used to lookin' after people, and as for doctorin', she's as wise a one as ever I want. It'll be awful handy to have her along for them as have childern." "Is she the woman who cured your baby of cholera, Cronin?" one of the listeners asked curi- ously. "She's the lady," Cronin answered reprovingly. "Ain't I after tellin' you she isn't one of us? What- ever brought her here alone I don't know." "The same thing that has brought the rest of us," Tupper said. "Gold! I ain't never heard that fine ladies scorned it. Well, Cap'n Brand, I don't see that any of us has any call to object if you care to shoulder this outfit, so let's draw and get to sleep. We've an early start ahead of us." The hat was passed around the circle, Tupper, who drew first, getting the seventh place; and Sam, Sam Adopts a Family 63 who drew third, bringing out number one for the Carters; then, their business concluded, the meeting adjourned without further ceremony. It was a beautiful star-lit night when the Brands, father and son, started out to find the outfit that Captain Brand had dubbed the Angel Mules because of the pure color of the animals Uncle Toby was so proud of. "YouVe sure took a great shine to these people, Sammy," Brand said seriously, a remark which Sam did not resent as he had his father's facetiousness. "I ain't never seen but one of the ladies — the girl," he explained. "She knows such a lot. Dad. She's only about as big as a minute ; but it will take me years to learn the half of what she has packed inside her head. The thing that got me was the pluck of her, tryin' to make her ma start off alone. She knew it was dangerous, because she said so ; but she was set on goin' just the same." In the dark Captain Brand slowly wagged his head up and down in agreement. He, too, appre- ciated the daring of two ladies setting out on such a trip. "I hope we can take 'em with us," he said. "If we can't, Sammy, — ^if their outfit is just no use, I'll try to make 'em see that they'd do no good to no one if they got stuck among the Indians or the Mor- mons." His effort was to speak lightly and Sam strove to observe a semblance of indifference as he rep'lied : 64 Diantha's Quest "It's a good outfit. IVe heard plenty of people speak of it. Nobody misses them three cream- colored mules." The camp in the river bottom was just like a number of others in the middle west where cara- vans assembled for the various trails. It never seemed to grow any smaller. Those who jumped off were at once replaced by others, hopefully look- ing forward to their chance to follow. There was every sort of vehicle pressed into service, as judg- ment or pocket-book dictated, from Conestoga wagons to country doctors' "one boss shays." There were substantial tents and pitiful little spreads of canvas that would prove poor protection against wind or rain. Few of the emigrants were veteran campaigners, fewer still made any attempt to safe- guard their health. Many indeed were destined to leave their bones on the prairie without ever setting eyes on the land of gold, and much of the disease that attacked them was preventable; but ordinary precautions were too often forgotten in the mad rush to be first at the gold fields. The Brands were obliged to pass from one side to the other of this gathering and they had not pro- gressed far before Sam stopped his father with a hand on his arm. "We can't go now," he said. "It's too late. Everybody is asleep." He pointed in every direc- tion, and his father's eye followed his wandering finger. Sure enough, the quick spurts of light that Sam Adopts a Family 65 indicated lanterns were no longer visible. Here and there was the red glow of embers from open fires where doubtless some old campaigners slept rolled in their blankets, but the camp as a whole was dark and silent. "We needn't wake the ladies," Brand returned. "Didn't you say they had a hired man? A driver? We'll find him. He can show me all I need to know." So they continued on their way, careful not to trip over tent ropes or to run into sleeping animals, and at last emerged on the far side of the camp, where Captain Brand stopped, utterly at a loss. "This is where I thought their outfit was," he muttered in a low tone. "I don't know," said Sam. "The only time I ever saw them mules was this mornin'. The old man was drivin' 'em out to graze. I never saw the wagon at all." "I'm quite sure it was here-about," Captain Brand repeated. "Yes, it was a new white top, and it stood next to that green top with *Never Say Die' printed on it in black." He strode over toward the green top, intent upon identifying it by its motto, and, being less .careful in his eagerness, he stumbled over a figure curled in a hollow in the ground. A querulous voice assailed him. "Now dod blast you," it said, "ain't this hull Indian nation big enough to walk over without steppin' on the only part of it I'm lyin' on? There 66 Diantha's Quest goes the first good night's sleep IVe had since the baby was born I" "Sorry, friend/' said Captain Brand, "but Vm lookin' for Mis' Carter's outfit. I thought it was located round here somewheres." "So it is," said the sleeper sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "The women-folk live in their wagon. They turned in hours ago, leastways their light went out before my wife's did." "Which is their wagon?" Brand asked. "I only want to talk to their hired man. No need to disturb the ladies." "It's right over there." The man pointed to the left. "No, it ain't neither! Funny how you get turned round sometimes." He scrambled to his feet and took his bearings. Then he faced the Brands. "Dod bing it!" he said, "it's gone !" CHAPTER VI UNCLE TOBY HAS A PLAN WHILE Di was talking to Sam Brand on the bank near the river, Uncle Toby was assisting Mrs. Carter to prepare the evening meal. In spite of the rough life they were leading, the old darky continued to wait upon the "ladies" with all the ceremony he could muster. "We all is still Carters, no matter how we is livin'," he insisted, and had he been given his own way neither his mistress nor her daughter would have done a stroke of work. This emigrant experience with its primitive and rude mode of existence puzzled him. '^I's been born a gem'mans gem'man," he would reiterate. "I ain't no cook and I ain't no coachman, but here I is fryin' flap-jacks and drivin' a spike' team o' white mules! What we all is comin' to I dunno." He had been Charles Carter's body-servant In the old days on the Virginia plantation and had fol- lowed his master's fortunes devotedly ever since. And no greater proof could have been given of his trustworthiness than the fact that the faithful negro 67 68 Diantha's Quest was left behind to care for Mrs. Carter and her daughter whenever the wandering husband and father set out upon one of his trapping and explor- ing expeditions. But this did not prevent Uncle Toby from pro- testing on every occasion. *'You-all might think I was an oV man, Marse Charles," he would say. *What call has you to leave Uncle Toby behind wif the ladies? Who's gwine to bring you your shavin' water in the morn- ings? Tha's what I want to know. Who is gwine keep your things in order? I tell you p'intedly, sir, you ain't no ways fittin' to do it yourself. You-all is bound to come back in rags." But in spite of his grumbling Uncle Toby stayed, and he was invaluable to Mrs. Carter. His de- votion to her interests was unflagging and, because he possessed a certain shrewd commonsense, his advice and opinions were of real value. He might complain that it was not "fittin* " for a Carter to submit to such privations as they were forced to face in the emigrant camp, but he knew why these privations were endured and was ready to bear his share of them with surprising fortitude. "What Ts pinin' to know, ll'l Miss," he said to Mrs. Carter as he poked a slab of wood into the small sheet-iron stove, "is how long we Is gwine to stay here?" "It doesn't seem as if we would ever get away," Mrs. Carter replied desperately. Uncle Toby Has a Plan 69 "But we is 'bliged to go," the old negro insisted. "When us Carters set our hands to do a thing, there ain't no turnin' back. No, ma'am! We is jest 'bliged to go to this "here California." They were still discussing the matter when Di- antha arrived, her face slightly flushed and a look of determination in her eyes. "Mama," she burst out, "I can't stand it any longer. We must start, or we'll never get away." *But, my dear," said Mrs. Carter, much dis- tressed, "what can we do if no one will take us?" "This here trail is free for all, li'l Miss," Uncle Toby put in. "If there ain't no party wantin' us, why we all has got to go by we's lonesome. There's no two ways about that!" "That's just what I say. Uncle Toby," Di ex- claimed vehemently. "It's foolish to put it off a day longer. Let's start at sunrise tomorrow." "No, no!" cried Mrs. Carter in alarm. *I can't take such a risk. Your father would never sanction it." "Marse Charles hasn't never held back 'count o' risks/* Uncle Toby looked cunningly from one to the other of his charges. "But I ain't aimin' to run you all into danger, if I can he'p it. I's got a plan, — ^but you ladies is served. Eat your supper while it's hot, and then I'll tell you about it." "Tell us while we eat," Di insisted, eager to learn of any possible way to make the start. "Well, then," said Uncle Toby, sinking his voice 70 Diantha's Quest almost to a whisper. "There's two ways it mought be done without what you might call much risk. We could wait till the next big train sets out and then trail along behin' 'em, aimin' never to let 'em out of our sight; — but I never did like folks that tagged along where they wasn't invited. No'm, I didn't! An' it ain't no place for Carters to ride in the dust these here poor white trash stir up." Uncle Toby was an aristocrat through and through, and had the southern house-servant's con- tempt for the uneducated white. "I don't know," said Mrs. Carter thoughtfully. "I don't propose to let pride stand in the way of my reaching California. This plan is both feasible and safe. I wonder that I never thought of it before." **I don't care how we go so that we go!" Di declared. "It's this waiting around doing nothing that I hate. We're wasting time when time may be important." "It is important, of course," Mrs. Carter agreed. "But so is prudence important. It would serve no good purpose for us to run into danger we can avoid." "Ps got another plan," Uncle Toby interposed anxiously. "A plan what is a heap more suitabler for Carters, if you ask me, — and it's just as safe. Yes, ma'am, it is so." "Well, what is it, Uncle Toby?" Mrs. Carter in- quired. She was entirely used to the old man; but his exaggerated idea of the honor of the family he Uncle Toby Has a Plan 7 1 served and whose fortunes had fallen so low, never failed to touch her. "It's like this," Uncle Toby spoke earnestly, his expression of cunning deepening as he elaborated his scheme. "You know these here parties mos* gen'- ally aim to start at sun-up. I aims to start before sun-up and if we keeps ahead of 'em all day they can't 'cuse us of taggin', can they?" "Uncle Toby, you certainly are clever!" cried Di, clapping her hands. "We'll do it ! The only thing we must be sure of is that we select a party that isn't too swift for our mules." "They ain't no such party!" said Uncle Toby with pride. "Them mules is birds. They wants to fly! The trouble will be to hold 'em back so we don't get too big a lead." "Wait! Wait!" exclaimed Mrs. Carter. "The matter isn't settled yet." But Di jumped up and ran to her, throwing her arms round her impetu- ously. "It is, it is!" she exclaimed. "It's nearly as safe as if we were really members of the party that follows us, and Mother dear, we must take some risk. Please, please consent." Mrs. Carter, overborne by this rush of words, looked appealingly at Uncle Toby, but he nodded his head in agreement with Di. "Deed, HI' Miss," he said, "we ain't got no more time to was'e projeckin' around here. We got to get to California." 72 Diantha's Quest And as he set things to rights after their rather scanty meal they heard him singing in his soft old voice, "Yo ho and the way we go, a-diggin' up the gold on the Sacramento !" Mrs. Carter and Di had decided to live in their wagon on the road. This cut down appreciably the amount of provisions they could carry, but saved the cost of a tent and the labor of erecting it every time they camped. Moreover they were protected from sudden storms as they would not have been in a tent and they had saved space by leaving behind many of the useless articles other emigrants clung to. Two such possessions however, Mrs. Carter refused to be deprived of. One was a clock which hung on the side of the wagon and which she wound faithfully each night. The other was the mouse- trap which she set just as faithfully. Di, watching her as she had nightly, was moved at last to ask why she did it. Her mother replied promptly : ^'Because I don't like mice. Go to sleep, my dear," and with that answer Di was forced to be content although she said to herself as she shut her eyes, "Anyhow, it sounds a lot more like a thing Fd do than like mama. She's so reasonable." After Diantha was asleep Mrs. Carter still sat writing in her journal by the light of the lantern. She had finished her entry for the day and closed the little book with a sigh, when she heard a soft whisper outside. Uncle Toby Has a Plan 73 "Li'l Miss/' it said. "Can I speak to you, ma'am, please?'' "Yes, Uncle Toby," she answered, and blew out her lantern before slipping out of the wagon to join the old man. "Why aren't you asleep?" she asked. "I've been a-moochin' around li'l Miss," Uncle Toby returned. "There's a real good party jumpin' off tomorrow. Mis' Cronin' tol' me they're goin' in it. Her husband is at the meetin' tortight." "The Cronins going!" Mrs. Carter seized on this point quickly. "I'll walk over and see if they can't arrange a place for — " "It ain't fittin' for us Carters to be behold'n to no Cronin," Uncle Toby interrupted severely. "And more'n that, it ain't no manner of use! Cronin ain't of no importance in this party, nohow." "That doesn't matter," Mrs. Carter said posi- tively. "It is my duty to snatch at every straw." "No'm," said Uncle Toby. "No'm, not this time; 'cause, 'sposin they says they won't have us, then we can't go at all. We want to do jest like we planned — slip on ahead. They'll start at sun-up. We'll start now!" Mrs. Carter considered this seriously for some time while Uncle Toby strove anxiously to read her face in the star-light. "You're right," she conceded at last. "It is our only sure way, and we must go. We must go!" She pressed her hands together tightly till the 74 DIantha's Quest knuckles showed white, but once her resolution was taken her voice did not falter. Her words of consent were all Uncle Toby was waiting for. "I done got the mules harnessed," he said briskly. "If you jest sit on the box and hold the lines Vl\ walk at Snowflake's head and see she don't act skit- tenish. I'm aimin' to get out o' camp quiet, without answerin' a thousan' questions." CHAPTER VII ON THE TRAIL IT was broad day when Diantha awoke and at once the motion of the wagon gave her a hint of something strange. Pushing aside the back flap of the canvas covering she leaned out. Behind her were miles of unbroken prairie. The thronged camp had disappeared. No moving object was visible to her roving eye, that searched the hori- zon in all directions. "Uncle Toby!*' she called, a little bewildered. "What has happened?" "We's done started for California, Miss Di," he replied, with a chuckle. "But — ^but when?" she demanded. "Las* night after you was asleep," came the an- swer from the front of the wagon. "Oh!" murmured Di. For an instant there was a pang of disappoint- ment. She had been looking forward to the day when, amid the cheers and good wishes of those who were left in the camp, they would begin their jour- ney toward the land of the setting sun. But they had jumped off while she slept! Di had missed a thrill, but only for an instant did she feel regret. 75 76 Diantha's Quest "Oh, Mama!" she cried, slipping back into the wagon, "weVe really started!'' "Yes, weVe really started,'' Mrs. Carter echoed, but the joy In her voice was tinged with anxiety and there was a fear in her heart that was to remain there for many a weary day. By the time Diantha was dressed the wagon had come to a halt. They were well out on the Ft. Kearney trail and would have pushed on a mile or more before stopping for breakfast had not Snow- flake, the lead mule, refused to ford a small stream that crossed their path. "This here animal's havin' a conniption, li'l Miss," Uncle Toby called to Mrs. Carter. "What's ailin' the critter I dunno, but we-all might as well stop and have our breakfast right now." Whatever Snowflake's objections to crossing the stream might have been, the clean running water made a joyous appeal to Di. Here was a place where she might wash In comfort, and taking off her shoes and stockings she ran down the bank. But the instant she stepped into the creek her feet sank into the sand and a peculiar sucking feeling warned Her of danger. In a momentary panic she seized hold of a cottonwood branch that overhung the ford and scrambled out. "It's quicksand!" she called. Uncle Toby looking up from the fire he was building, shook his head solemnly. On the Trail 77 "I done tor you that Snowflake was a wise li'I mule," he said. **The wagon would have gone in over the hubs and we'd never have gotten it out!" Di exclaimed, dismayed at the thought. **Not until someone had helped us," her mother returned. **That's one of the reasons I dreaded to come alone." And she glanced back over the trail, hoping for the first sight of the wagon-train she had counted on to follow them. "Now don't you-all worrit, li'l Miss," Uncle Toby put in reassuringly. *'We-all is gwine to fetch through all right. These here mules is worth two teams at pullin\ and another one for bein* smart. There's this Snowflake, she done knowed there was goblins in that bottom, waitin' to catch hold o' her heels. How, I dunno, — ^but she gwine to have some sugar for her 'telligence." After breakfast Uncle Toby examined the ford carefully. He found the banks rather steep but noted also that there were traces of brush in the bed of the stream. **There's been a-plenty o' people in trouble here, I reckon," he said as he came back to the wagon. *'But we-all is gwine to get across if we're kind o' keerful and don't waste no time." All three of the little party started to collect brush- wood and under Uncle Toby's direction laid it over the sand in the stream, weighted down here and there with stones to keep it from floating away. 78 Dlantha's Quest Then everything having been made ready, Uncle Toby took his seat on the wagon. "Come on, you Snowflake,'' he called, cracking his long whip. "You're gwlne to get your sugar, but you-all is gwlne to earn it first." With a shout Uncle Toby urged his mules down the bank with a rush and up the other side so quickly that the stream had been forded ere the treacher- ous sand could halt their progress. Di and her mother, wading in the wake of the wagon, cheered happily and looked at each other with smiles of triumph. It seemed as if now the journey had really begun auspiciously. A difficulty had been met and overcome. It gave them courage and heartened them to face the miles and miles ahead. "I think. Mama," Di said, as she looked back across the creek, "we ought to leave some warning to those behind us." "It would be a friendly act," Mrs. Carter agreed, "how can we manage it?" "If you'll write *quicksand' on a piece of paper," Di suggested, "Fll go back and put it up on a forked stick in the middle of the trail." "ril print it," her mother said, and, this done, Di set up the warning as she had proposed. "You know. Mama, that brush is already sucking down in the sand," Di remarked as she regained Mrs. Carter's side. "I'm glad we put up that sign. It will keep somebody out of trouble I hope." On the Trail 79 This first day's march was a pleasant one. A sense of elation made all three of the travelers glad. No longer were they waiting idly while their store of provision dwindled under their eyes. Each hour saw them miles nearer the goal of their desire. After weeks of heart-breaking delay they were at last well started and, while they knew that hard- ships were ahead of them, they had faith that in spite of difficulties and privations they would reach California sooner or later. Forgetting her anxiety, Mrs. Carter sang happily, and her little daughter joined her voice to the songs and made merry as they trudged along beside the wagon. Although Uncle Toby disapproved highly and re- iterated that it *Veren't fittin' '\ Di and her mother had decided they would walk whenever the roads and weather permitted. They wished to save the mules all they could, realizing that once the mountain passes were reached their patient animals would have need of all their strength. It was no new thing to Mrs. Carter, this facing the unknown. Al- most all her married life she had followed her hus- band into uninhabited lands, and she had grown to love the freedom of the wild and open country. But with the experience of the past had come knowl- edge of the dangers that lurked on every hand, and she had done her best to guard against them. So although she sang merrily and perhaps for an hour or two put aside her anxieties, she looked back fre- quently, longing to catch sight of the cloud of dust 80 Diantha's Quest that would tell her of the oncoming caravan she hoped was following. The afternoon was still young when Uncle Toby drew off to one side of the trail. "I Uow, li'l Miss, we-all will camp here for the night," he said, and Mrs. Carter was glad to stop. At once Di and she set about preparing supper, while the old colored man attended to his mules; but by the time they had eaten their meal and put the camp to rights long shadows warned them of the approach- ing sunset. To the east no sign of travelers was visible. They seemed utterly alone, the center of an immense stretch of rolling plain covered with the green of early spring, and Mrs. Carter looked in vain for the company upon which she had so confidently counted. However, that first night passed without alarm and daylight brought renewed courage. All the rich land seemed so peaceful, the sun so warm and cheerful that they set off again with their vague fears quieted for the time being. Mrs. Carter told her- self that by afternoon, at the latest, they would surely find others upon the road to whom they might apply for help in an emergency. They made a goodly number of miles without mishap before Uncle Toby decided to halt for the noon rest. The mules were unharnessed and turned out to graze, while Di and Mrs. Carter went off in search of fire-wood, which was none too plentiful, On the Trail 81 the bushes and small trees having been stripped for some distance on both sides of the trail. Upon their return Mrs. Carter was overjoyed to find a string of pack horses and a half dozen or so of men sur- rounding their wagon. "Someone has caught up with us at last !'' she ex- claimed thankfully, and went forward to welcome the newcomers, who greeted her with varying de- grees of embarrassment. "We just stepped over to see if we could buy some coffee,'* one of the visitors explained awk- wardly. Mrs. Carter shook her head, puzzled. "I am sorry," she said. "We carry barely sufficient for our own needs. I wish we could help you out, but it's simply impossible." As she spoke she was trying to account to herself for the packer's predica- ment. Barely one day on the road and already short of necessaries! How could people be so im- provident? The men turned away disappointed, and Mrs. Carter called after them half apologetically. "My daughter and I live In our wagon. That cuts down our space for supplies. I do hope you understand." At her words one of the party faced toward her and replied. "There's no hard feeling, ma'am. If you can't spare it, you can't. But it's been a long time since 82 Diantha's Quest we tasted coffee and what the old man is boiling there smells extra good to us." *'Didn*t you get all you wanted at St. Joseph?" asked Di, feeling that she must have an explanation of the seeming mystery. At her words the men all stopped in their tracks and looked at the girl in surprise. At last one of them spoke. "We're going to St. Jo, not coming from there, young lady," he replied. "We're from Sacramento City and thereabouts." Immediately their situation was perfectly ex- plained. It was natural enough that the end of a long journey should find them with depleted supplies, and Di promptly responded to this explanation. "Please, mother, let me give them my coffee?" she whispered, and Mrs. Carter called hospitably: "Come right back, but bring your own mugs. We haven't enough of them to go around. My daughter and I will be only too glad to give you our coffee. It will do us no harm to go without it for once, so don't say no." The men accepted this invitation with gratitude, although politely protesting that the ladies should not deprive themselves entirely; but their apprecia- tion of the coffee was almost touching, and while they were drinking it their tongues were loosened and they drew a rather gloomy picture of the life in the diggings. They did not deny that there was gold to be found in California, but the work was On the Trail 83 hard, a man being obliged to stand most of the time waist-deep in the water from the snows, while if a strike was made one day as likely as not It would do no more than finance him till his next find. Then rough characters were creeping into the gold fields. It used to be that a man could go away from his cabin and leave all he had in dust and chispas (which was what they called nuggets) in plain view. Not so now-a-days. People hid what they had, or managed to send it in to town to the the bank or express company, and when a fellow made a strike he kept it to himself, in all probability, instead of Inviting his chums in to locate near him and share his luck. No, the good old days were gone never to re- turn! You worked hard for what you got and earned it. That was the chorus to all their stories. But one of the men drew out a buck-skin bag and exhibited different kinds of gold to their admiring eyes. **These are nothing but samples," he explained, "a knowing man can tell what section gold comes from just by glancing at it." He pointed out the different colors in the nuggets; the grains of gold, the coarse flakes and the thin gold that was found lying like fern leaves or frost tracery when you had cleared away the red top-soil. Uncle Toby glanced over the visitor's shoulder, vastly impressed by the display. "And has you brung back all them horses loaded 84 Diantha's Quest up with gold?" he asked, looking at the pack-train with new interest. The men laughed heartily at this innocent idea. "Once in a while they send mule trains over the Isthmus with bullion," one of them explained good- naturedly. **It's in no danger, it's such heavy stuff. No man could stagger far with one of the ingots. Two are a mule load. So you see it wouldn't pay to pack It back over the plains. No, clothing and food are what our animals carry. We've come out to get some new-fangled machinery for picking up the fine gold with quick-silver. We've got to have it made and to carry it back over the Sierras before snow falls." "Have you been in Southern California at all?" Mrs. Carter asked abruptly. "Just where do you mean?" the man inquired. "I was a volunteer in the Bear Flag Revolution, and I served under Fremont for a while ; but it was so one-sided for a war I got it into my head that It was all over and quit before San Pascual, where I believe the Spanish put up the only fight of the campaign. Was it thereabout you had in mind?" "I meant the country around the Santa Catalina Mission," Mrs. Carter said. "Didn't traders and trappers who came by Santa Fe enter California there?" "Now you've got me guessing," the man replied helplessly. "I came in clear up north by Monte Diablo. Do you aim to go south to settle?" On the Trail 85 **My husband is there," Mrs. Carter said. "I thought it possible you had met him or heard of him. His name is Charles Carter." "Charles Carter Carter," Uncle Toby murmured reprovingly. "I don't seem to recall the name and yet, I don't know. Charles Carter? Charley Carter? It seems to me I have heard it and lately too." But wrack his brains as he might no recollection came to the man. "It's one of those things that slip into some pigeon-hole in your head and only crop out when you aren't thinking of them," he said. "I tell you what, Mrs. Carter, if we have luck we'll overtake you before you get to the Sink of Mary's River, and if this comes back to me I'll write it down so it shan't slip my memory again. Not that it's likely to be of any importance," he added, "but I know what store a lady sets by news of her husband." Before these men went on they begged Mrs. Car- ter to accept a haunch of antelope, and advised her not to drive too far in advance of her party; for it never entered their heads that she was alone. "There are Indians only about six hours ride from here," they explained. "This antelope ran to us and kept along by our horses today as if seeking protection. At first we were going to shoot it, but we put it off to see how long it would stay beside us. All of a sudden it dropped dead, and then we found that it had an arrow almost through it all the time. We waited for the Indians to come and claim it but S6 Diantha's Quest none of them showed up. That*s the thing that leads us to suspect that they are not friendly, or else are hunting off their own hunting grounds.'* Mrs. Carter thanked them for their advice. "We will lay off soon,'* she said. "By tomorrow only too many people will have caught up with us. Fm thankful not to be obliged to breathe their dust today." But in this she was mistaken. Again the sun rose and set on one lonely wagon-top on that great plain, still green with the first growth of early spring. In the morning Mrs. Carter held a consultation with Uncle Toby to determine whether to push on or not, and it was finally decided that it would be safe to go forward for three hours, as the Indians were reported six hours march distant. "It would probably be more than six hours as we go,'* Di reminded her mother. "You know these men had no wagons. They could cover much more ground than we can." It was this thought that persuaded Mrs. Carter to keep on for still another hour in the hope of find- ing a pleasanter place to camp, for it was her inten- tion to lay by there until other emigrants overtook them, even thoug'h it should be a matter of days. To be sure both she and Di were more or less broken in to the wilds. They had seen rattlesnakes before and had met Indians who came to trade their furs with Mr. Carter. Indeed it was her knowledge that her husband found that he could not trust all of the On the Trail 87 savages even when they appeared most friendly, that warned Mrs. Carter now not to go farther alone. They made their noon camp by a brook whose banks were lined with a scattering of willows and cottonwoods. Uncle Toby turned his mules out to graze, Mrs. Carter sat down to write in her diary and Di looked about for something to amuse her. A tiny beaten path that left the road at an angle attracted her and she wandered down it, expecting to find that it led to a well or spring. Instead she came to three unmarked graves and one with the taiPboard of an emigrant wagon used as a head-stone. On it was roughly carved; Sophey Bessie Muttons Aged twelve years and nine months 1848 That was all. There was nothing to tell where this little victim of the trail had come from nor how she had met her death. Di, looking at the grave, suddenly felt very lonely. **Just my age,'' she thought. "I never had a girl friend of my own age. I wish I'd known her." She turned aside and gathered a bunch of wild flowers with which she decorated the little mound, then full of thoughts of this other child whose short term upon the earth had ended here, she continued to follow the path which now slanted back to join the trail again, making it plain that, when the grass 88 Diantha's Quest was so young that the mounds were more easily distinguishable, curiosity had drawn enough travel- ers from the straight road to stamp down a path- way. She came out at a distance from the camp and was about to turn back when a cloud of dust toward the western horizon drew her attention. Shading her eyes with her hand she discovered a number of teams approaching rapidly, and ran to tell her mother the news. The new arrivals, when they drew up with a clat- ter beside the Carter outfit, proved to be soldiers from Ft. Kearney going into St. Joseph on business. Their young officer, a boy just out of West Point with no experience of the plains, scouted the idea that any Indians would venture to attack them east of Ft. Kearney, and with this backing Diantha, who always longed to be on the move, had little difficulty in persuading her mother to trail a little longer, although Uncle Toby shook a doubtful head over it. However on they went, over undulating fertile plains with many streams and much rich bottom- land. Had the emigrants who passed this way been in search of farms and homes they need have gone no farther. The land here was part of the Louis- iana Purchase and was destined before many years had passed to be made a territory and later a rich state of the Union. In all the hurrying throng who traveled west- ward, in the years 1849 and 18S0, it is safe to say On the Trail 89 there were none who gave the future prosperity of the lands they traversed more than a passing thought. Their imaginations had been fired by tales of gold. Gold to be had for the trouble of picking it up. Gold in quantities they had never dreamed existed, and nothing less spectacular held any lure for them. In front of the Carters on the trail were many parties pressing forward with feverish haste. Behind them were yet more. In such numbers did they come that the later caravans may be said to have fairly stepped on each other's heels, and the various large camps where the emigrants met to organize their travelling companies were soon so over-crowded that they became hotbeds of disease. Cholera, thereafter, in many cases dogging the trav- elers' foot-steps until they reached the high altitude of the desert. But they counted this as nothing if only they might win through to the land of golden promise. It was the good fortune of the Carter party to be spared some of the worst discomforts of the crowded wagon-trains on these first days of their journey; but Mrs. Carter's anxiety became acute when once more they made their camp for the night and waited, expecting to be overtaken, straining their ears to the East to hear — nothing! The wind dropped down at sunset and the whole plain seemed to flatten out under the changing light. Uncle Toby and Mrs. Carter, both with their minds and eyes on the back trail, were unconscious 90 Diantha^s Quest of the beauty of the setting sun. Di however appre- ciated it to the full and at last drew her mother's attention to it. "Look!" she said, pointing, "See how strange the clouds are ? With those little dark columns rising on each side to join the bigger ones overhead, it looks as though the sun were in a frame." Uncle Toby cast one glance toward the west, then he emitted a little grunt and started out after his mules. "Looks like nothin' but a thunder-storm," he said, over his shoulder. "I'm goin' to bring in them mules and tie 'em up to the wagon. I don't want 'em r'arin' over the face of creation if it comes on to blow." That was all he said, but he did not deceive Mrs. Carter. She knew as well as he did that Di's little dark columns were the smoke of signal fires, set alight by Indians. CHAPTER VIII INDIANS THE Brands, father and son went back to their own outfit silently. There was nothing they could do but endeavor to get their own party started promptly in the hope that they would over- take the Carters. Mr. Brand found himself almost as much interested as his son in the two **plucky wom- en folk'* as he mentally called them. He also appre- ciated better than the boy did the risks to which they were now exposed, and he meant to strain every nerve to reach them and take them under the pro- tection of his party. "Don't worry, Sammy," he said, *Ve'll catch up to 'em." And Sam, comforted, replied, *'Sure, Dad," as he rolled himself in his blanket and went to sleep. But luck seemed to be against them. The first delay was occasioned by Tupper who, according to his daughter Seraphy, "had been took bad in the night." A doctor had been sent for from St. Jo and came in the ferry that crossed at eight-thirty, to pronounce Tupper's complaint not cholera, as his family had feared, but too many baked beans arxd 91 92 Diantha's Quest dried apples. The invalid, heartened by this good news, declared himself ready to go on ; but the start was not really made before ten, and by that time another wagon-train was ahead of them on the road. Then began a series of mishaps, none of them serious in themselves, yet all tending to retard the march so that their first night's camp was made a distance to the east of the little stream where Di had left her sign-post. The next day a real accident occurred at this ford, for the party ahead of Captain Brand's train, which had profited by the sign, had not been public-spirited enough to replace it. Cronin, who had drawn num- ber two, and therefore, in the absence of the Carters, held the head of the column, drove into the stream where his first wagon sank to its axles. One of his horses, a young and spirited beast, took alarm, plunging and kicking till it broke the traces and ran away, leaving the remaining animals unable so much as to stir the wagon, imbedded as it was in the sand. Help was promptly at hand, but it took eight double teams to pull the outfit on to firm ground. To Sam fell the congenial task of rounding up the runaway and heading him back to his duty, a business that Polka Dots and he accomplished to their mutual satisfaction. It was near to where the Carters had made their first night's camp that the S. Brands, as the whole party came to be known on the trail, were met by the California pack-train, from whom Sam eagerly Indians 93 sought news of the Carters. What he learned did not reassure him; for the men had been impressed by the fact that the ladies were too far in advance of their companions, as they assumed the Intervening party to be. Still the boy took some comfort out of the warning the packers had given them. Di and her mother knew that there were Indian bands in the neighborhood and had said that they would lay off till they were overtaken. Surely, he reasoned, such news should make them delay till someone passed them. Their second night's camp was made in company with the party which had jumped off just ahead of them, whom they came up with not far from the spot where the Carters had met the pack-train. This was a noisy, merry camp. There was singing, and dancing with the prairie as a floor; but Captain Brand quietly circulated word among the drivers of his wagons that an early start must be made in order not to take the dust of the other party all day; and there were good-natured shouts of derision before sunrise next morning as their partners of the night before tumbled sleepily out of wagons and tents to reply to their parting jibes. "See you in Californy,'' was the favorite valedic- tory, to which the retort usually was, "We'll pass you at the next mud-hole." But the S. Brand outfit was off and very jubilant at having already distanced one of their competitors. Sam, boy-like, was specially elated. 94 Diantha*s Quest "They'll never catch us, will they, Dad?'* The remark was in the nature of an assertion rather than a question but his father shook a wise head. "Can't say, Sammy," he returned. "We're both of us in something of the same fix. We're carrying too much weight, if you ask me. Sooner or later we will all have to throw over a pile o' useless things to lighten the wagons. If I had my way it would be sooner, before we've tired the cattle out; but the day when you've passed someone on the road ain't the time to suggest that." "You don't mean we could lighten up. Dad?" Sam's tone was startled. "Why what have we got that we could do without?" "No one knows what he can do without till he has to," Captain Brand returned. "Anyway, I sus- picion that the reason we don't overtake that Angel Mule outfit is because they have a light wagon and a light load. I wish we hadn't bought such a weight of supplies in St. Jo. It might be worth while, in the long run, to pay more for things further west." The meeting with the soldiers did a great deal to reassure them as to the Carters' safety, although at the same time it was evident that they had not kept to their intention as the Californians had under- stood it, for they were still considerably in the lead. However, interested as he now was in the race to overtake that lone white top, Captain Brand had his own party to consider first, and he made camp when Indians 95 his experience told him that their cattle had done all that it was wise they should do. "Dad," said Sam, appealingly, sidling up to him after supper, **have you got any objections to my ridin* on a piece ? Polka Dots is as fresh as a daisy." **There ain't no way o' tellin' how far they are ahead, Sammy," his father replied, not liking the idea. "As a matter of fact it's too dark to see them unless they have a big fire. You'd better hold back till mornin', then I won't lay a feather in your way. You needn't wait for us to break camp. You can start on the minute it begins to grow light." Sam was forced to be content with this, but he stuffed som*^ food in his pocket and rode out of camp before even his father had opened his eyes. It was great fun to be riding alone through the sweet cool air. Polka Dots seemed to enjoy the privilege as much as her master and exhibited many new airs and graces to his admiring eyes. The pleasure of showing his pet off to Diantha Carter was one of the things Sam was looking for- ward to and he pressed ahead eagerly until, on mounting a rise just as the sun rose behind him, his eyes lit on the lonely white-topped wagon that he had been searching for, with Uncle Toby's little tent spread close to it. Another boy would have shouted. Sam, who had been whistling softly as he rode, burst into a joyous peal of melody that a lark might have envied and urged Polka Dots on. Then, of a sudden, he reined 96 Diantha's Quest her back on her haunches and sat in the saddle, straining forward to make sure of what he saw. The trail at this point was well marked. It stretched toward the horizon like a new scratch on the face of the prairie, but what had caught Sam's attention was not a party riding on the road. It was a scat- tering of moving dots spreading out as they came over the grass of the plains. His first thought was that it was game of some sort. Perhaps even buffalo — and he mourned that he had not brought a gun, thinking, boy-like, of the feather it would be in his cap if he killed the first buffalo. He examined his pistol, for he was equipped as were all the plainsmen with bowie knife and pistol, but he knew that a buffalo was hardly likely to be killed by a ball from it, unless by chance he was lucky enough to hit it in the eye. However, it would do no harm to let fly just once and he urged Polka Dots forward eagerly, only to pull up again within a few rods. The light was better now and he saw that the approaching spots were not buffalos but Indians who were all bearing down on that lonely wagon, where seemingly the occupants still slept. For an instant Sam's heart seemed to stop beat- ing. The words of Tupper and his father to which he had listened a few nights before came surging into his mind. They had known it was unsafe for a lone outfit to take the trail. What chance had an Indians 97 old negro, a woman and one little girl against a dozen or more Indians? And what was the best thing to do? Sam's first thought was to wheel around and ride back to the camp for help. That seemed the most sensible pro- cedure, but meanwhile Di and her mother would be left to the mercy of the savages. He calculated that the S. Brand camp was an hour's ride behind him and the little party ahead might easily be wiped out in much less time than that. For him to return might be the most sensible thing, but Sam never even tightened rein on 'the fast flying Polka Dots. And yet what could he, a boy of thirteen, do to protect the Carters? Well, at least he had a pistol and knew how to use it. If Uncle Toby could shoot, they might defend the wagon, one at the front and one to the rear, with Di and her mother lying hid between them. At all events it was worth trying. There was just a chance that they might be able to hold off the redskins until the S. Brands reached the spot. But, on second thought, was there a chance ? The more he considered it the more Sam doubted the feasibility of this plan. The leisurely progress of their caravan was too slow to afford much hope that it would arrive in time. If he could let the party know what was happening, if he could send word to his father that danger threatened, he knew well enough that a band of mounted men would spare neither their beasts nor themselves in hastening to 98 Diantha's Quest the rescue. Yet how could he send them word unless he went back himself? He was still galloping forward when a plan came Into his head and he reined In his little mustang sharply. His precious Polka Dots should be his messenger, If he could only make her understand. He dismounted quickly and turned the mare's head to the east. Hurriedly taking off his red neck- erchief, he tied it to the saddle and looped fhe reins tightly over the bow. For a moment he stood smoothing the horse's velvety nose, then, stepping back, he gave her a light slap on the flank with his open hand. "Take it to Dad, Dots," he commanded, *'Take it to Dad!" This was a new trick he had been teaching his clever little mustang and once or twice before she had done as he had ordered, but always the distance to be travelled had been short and Captain Brand had been In plain sight. It was almost too much to expect that it would succeed now. But, even if the little mare did not go all the way, if the caravan came up with her anywhere on the road it would be a warning to his father that all was not well ahead and he certainly would press forward with some of the other men to find out what had happened to his son. In this lay Sam's hope, and he turned to walk toward the wagon In an easier frame of mind after he had seen Polka Dots take the back track at a HURRIEDLY HE TOOK OFF HIS RED NECKERCHIEF Indians 99 steadily increasing pace as if she knew her errand and appreciated the need for haste. But, once off the horse, Sam could no longer see the white wagon-top except on occasional small eminences, and it soon became apparent to him that, in that clear air, he had seriously under-estimated the distance that lay between him and it. However, he hurried on, determined to do his best to distance the Indians, if possible, but growing more anxi- ous with each minute that passed. CHAPTER IX "sittydolI" MEANWHILE those in the lonely camp were not so unconscious of the approach of the redskins as Sam had supposed. Uncle Toby had carefully smothered his small fire with sand as soon as he had noticed the Indians' smoke-signals the night before, and it was just possible that they might have escaped discovery had their canvas not been so new and white. As it was daybreak betrayed them to the Indians even as it had to Sam, and the savages lost no time in bearing down upon the camp which they reached some time before the boy came up to it. This was not a war party. The Pawnees were at peace with the whites, and these braves were on a hunt ; but they were never averse to taking any pick- ings that came their way, and certainly a lonely wagon held out hope of spoils; so they descended upon It with all speed and seemingly in great good humor. Their first object was to discover if the party were as weak as it looked. Single wagons had been known to have many men attached to them, but in such cases there were usually extra animals graz- ing near and the only profit to be made was by stam- 100 "Sitty Ddir"' ' ' ' ; joi peding this herd after dust ancf making oflF with as many as possible. Quick beady eyes scanned the earth around the camp for signs that white men had ridden out to hunt. All they detected were the hoof-prints of their own unshod ponies, and they began to grow bold even before they saw the old man and the white squaw whom they at first supposed to be the sole occupants of the camp. Mrs. Carter and Uncle Toby were going quietly about the preparation of breakfast when the Indians swept down upon them. The old colored man had advised his mistress of their approach some time before and they both knew that an appearance of un- concern was necessary if they were to avoid serious trouble. They knew also that to allow petty thiev- ery would not help them, so they divided their forces. Uncle Toby kept his eyes upon the mules and harness. Mrs. Carter stood guard over the cook-stove and supplies, while Di was posted inside the wagon to warn off marauders there. The first few minutes passed in an exchange of greetings, some demands for "sugee," which were smilingly refused, as was the proffer of a poorly dressed doe-skin in trade. Meanwhile the braves were looking about, mumbling among themselves and perhaps determining upon their next move, when Sam Brand's arrival created a diversion. The boy had made all possible haste; but when he discovered that the Indians were before him he 102 /. jr,., . ., ^Diarith^'s Quest deliberately lay down under a bush to cool off and readjust his plans. As things were now, with the Indians already in possession of the camp (for in Sam's mind there was no place for a friendly Indian), there was small chance that he and Uncle Toby could make a fort of the wagon, thus his going down there seemed a useless putting of his head in the lion's mouth except for one thing. The Carters did not know that any help was to be expected, and it might be possible to keep the redskins in a good humor long enough to allow his father to come up, if they were advised that there was such a chance ; so Sam jumped to his feet, brushed himself off with his hands and took up his march again. Very slowly he swaggered toward the camp, but so little did the savages concern themselves with foot-pass^engers that his proximity was unnoted until he burst into a perfect riot of whistling. This he did deliberately with the intention of warning Dian- tha who was approaching, and it had the desired efiect for Di stuck a startled face out of the wagon and called out; "Mama, here's Sam Brand! The whistling boy I told you about!" Immediately the Indians began grunting excitedly among themselves, pointing back along the trail, and those who had dismounted jumped qurckly on their ponies and, at a word from their chief, galloped away to the east. **Sitty Dol!'* 103 "They're going to look the rest of your party over, Sam/* Mrs. Carter said. "I'm glad youVe caught up to us at last." "But we haven't, ma'am," Sam replied. "I'm a good hour ahead of our folks. I started afore sun-up." "You mean you're alone?" Di asked, from her place in the wagon. "Sure !" Sam returned, and quickly recounted the situation. "I tell you, ma'am," he ended, address- ing Mrs. Carter, "I reckon we'd better organize our fort afore the savages come back," and he rattled off his defensive plans while he fingered the pistol in his holster. But Mrs. Carter quieted his fears. "They're not hostiles, Sam," she explained. "I don't think we shall have any trouble with them at all; but we mustn't show that we're afraid nor let them steal anything." "Perhaps they won't come back," said Di, but she was mistaken. The Indians, having reached the summit of the hill overlooking the camp, halted their ponies and for a good five minutes stood motionless, outlined sharply against the bright blue sky, gazing to the east. Then, wheeling together as if drilled, they came racing back, evidently satisfied that Sam's arrival was of no importance. Doubtless they as- sumed, when they saw no other outfit on the road, that the boy was also a member of the lone party. 104 Diantha's Quest Mrs. Carter, with a word of warning to all, turned to her interrupted cooking as if nothing was wrong and awaited the arrival of the savages. Once more they surrounded the wagon, pointing out this and that to one another with unintelligible grunts. Di, pushing her head through the opening in the canvas at the back of the wagon to ask her mother a question, drew their attention, and the sight of the girPs red hair, gilded by the sun, had an unexpected effect upon the Indians. One of them, evidently a chief, strode toward her and tou'ched a curl lightly with a tip of his finger. Di shrank back out of sight and the brave turned to Mrs. Carter. "Who belong?'' he asked, laconically. Mrs. Carter scented danger but faced the savage with a smile. "Papoose belong to me," she replied shortly, with an air of indifference. "Huh!" grunted the chief, and with a nod toward the wagon and one finger on his own lank locks to indicate his wish, spoke again. "Me buy!" Mrs. Carter shook her head. "You no sell papoose hair. Me no sell papoose hair." "Me buy!" he repeated stolidly. "Ten doll" "No sell," Mrs. Carter replied calmly, busy at the stove. "Twenty dol !" the Indian persisted. "Twenty dol. One horse!" He held up a finger. "Sitty Dol!^' 105 "No need horse!" Mrs. Carter laughed. "Got plenty mules!" Once more the chief grunted and seemed to con- sider a moment before he made his next bid. "Thirty dol?" His persistence began to alarm Mrs. Carter, and to divert his mind from its purpose she lifted a flap-jack from her pan and held it out to him. "Hot," she explained. "Look out!" No Indian ever refused food, least of all flap- jacks. They drifted into white camps, produced from under their blankets dirty lumps of dough to be cooked in the whites' ovens, then silently drifted out again when their cooking was done, usually with any portable property they were able to annex. Mrs. Carter under ordinary circumstances would not have offered this brave her own food, but the circum- stances now were exceptional. He must be diverted if it were possible. Sam had slipped over to the wagon and taken a seat on the tail-board. "See here," he said to Di, "do these Injuns under- stand English?" "You can't ever tell," she anwered. "Just when you don't want them to, they understand every word. But you needn't worry about these. They haven't any war paint on. They're good Indians.'* "Good rattlesnakes!" Sam retorted sceptically. "They ain't no such thing. Anyway I think your ma ought to let them know my dad's comin'." 106 Diantha^s Quest "That won^t do any harm," Di agreed, and pushed her head through the opening once more. At sight of her the chief gulped down a mouthful of hot flap-jack and turned eagerly to Mrs. Carter. "Thirty dol!" he grunted again. "Di," Mrs. Carter called, glancing over her shoulder, "put on your sunbonnet and guard the front of the wagon. Sam can look after the back." "I wonder what that's for?" Di said with a laugh as she obeyed. "Thirty dol!" the Indian repeated. Mrs. Carter shook her head. His pertinacity was unmistakable. The matter was no longer the trivial if annoying affair she had first thought it. She began to be seriously worried. "How long will it be before your father can get here, Sam?" she asked the boy. "Maybe an hour, ma'am, if Dots went right through," he replied. "Thirty-fi' dol!" the chief persisted. His second glance at Diantha's red-gold hair had made him more determined than ever. With slight hope in her heart, but ready to play a desperate game to save her daughter's curls, Mrs. Carter changed her tactics. "Not enough! Thirty-five dollars! Huh!" She spoke as if the offer were too paltry for considera- tion; but at the same time she offered the chief another flap-jack. From now on she meant to make these choice "SittyDol!'' 107 morsels smaller, to feed the man for as long a time as her batter held out, hoping that good fortune might bring the help of which she now realized the need. The other Indians who had crowded close in hope of a share in the feast stretched out their hands for the finished product, and Sam called out warningly. "Your batter won't last if you try to feed 'em all. Better stuff the chief and tell 'him to make 'em behave." This was good advice and Mrs. Carter took it at once. "These all big chiefs?" she demanded suddenly, and a word from their leader made the others fall back a pace or two. Slowly Mrs. Carter cooked flap-jacks, slowly the minutes dragged by. Once a blanket tugged by in- visible hands had to be pulled back into the wagon and a brave, not in the least out of countenance, rose from 'the grass and stalked away. Twice Uncle Toby had reason to rebuke those who took too great an interest in the shining buckles of his harness; and the bargaining between Mrs. Carter and the savage continued until he made her the astounding offer, "Sitty dol !" Mrs. Carter trying to keep her eyes from betray- ing that she hoped for relief by the road, repeated mechanically, "Not enough I" Too well she realized upon W|hat a frail thread she had hung her hopes. No one was coming, no 108 Diantha's Quest one I The horse had turned aside to graze. What horse wouldn't when sent off riderless? "Sitty dol?" The chiefs tone was menacing and the flap-jack batter was almost gone. Despairingly Mrs. Carter made her cakes still smaller. If the worst came to the worst she would cut off Di's curls and give them to the man; but she was assured that if she acceded to his outrageous demands, he would know his power and follow it up. She had not answered his last offer and when the Pawnee had gulped down another cake he repeated it. *'Sitty dol?'' **No want to sell !" Mrs. Carter was scraping her bowl, almost at the end of her batter. "Sitty dol — or take!'' the chief said meaningly, making a step toward the wagon. Mrs. Carter dexterously turned her last flap-jack and held it out to him ; but his temper had changed and he was not to be diverted. "Take!" he repeated, moving forward.* Diantha, inside the closed wagon, was unable to hear all that was going on, but Sam, seated on the tail-board, was perfectly aware of the nature of the controversy and knew that it would be best not to enrage the Indian, yet his hand went to his pistol. Then he took it away again; to kill the man would only bring the rest of the band upon them. There must be something better to do than that. He broke "SItty Dol!" 109 off his careless whistling and turned to the Indian with an engaging grin. ''Wait," he said. "Maybe so I get it for you. What you give me, a horse?" he pointed to himself. In truth the Indian preferred to gain his end peacefully. To slay and scalp on the trail between Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Kearney was almost cer- tain to bring down a swift vengeance. The offer he had made, enormous for an Indian, proved not only his wish for a peaceful settlement of his demands but also the intensity of his desire for possession. There was -no doubt that he meant to have the thing he had set his heart on, no matter what the price. Yet the intervention of this boy might save violence and the possibility of retribution to follow. He looked Sam over and took his measure. Then, with a grunt of satisfaction, held up one finger. ''Horse I"'he said. "And sixty dollars for her?** Sam jerked his head in the direction of Mrs. Carter. The brave gave a short nod. "Let's see the horse," said Sam briskly. The chief turned and gave a command. As he did so Sam slipped his pistol out of its holster and leaned back into the wagon, holding it out to Di. "Defend yourself and your mother, if you have to," he whispered, and slid down to the ground. Di, utterly astounded, for she had been kept busy by Indians at the front of the wagon and had missed most of what had gone on, saw Sam go up to a 110 Diantha's Quest pony that was now led forward, examine its mouth and pass a hand down its legs. Then, after a further colloquy with the chief, he mounted it and rode to the top of the rise to the east. For a moment she thought she understood. Sam was deserting them. Well, she could hardly blame him for that. They had no claim upon him. Mrs. Carter too, saw the boy ride off. She, how- ever, counted him clever to have secured the horse, thinking that he hoped to get away upon it to sum- mon help and fearing only that, exasperated by his outwitting them, the Indians might take a summary vengeance upon those left behind. With this in her mind she joined Di in the wagon where the girl at once held out Sam's pistol to her. "He left me this," she said simply. **He probably thinks he can bring help," her mother replied. "It remains to be seen if the Paw- nees follow him or attack us." But even as she spoke Sam wheeled the mustang and came pelting back, while mother and daughter looked at each other, surprised anew. "They're coming fast!" he shouted, as he remed the pony in on its haunches. "I saw their dust." Then to the Indian, "Good pony ! I like ! I go see !" Dismounting as he talked he ran over to the wagon. "They'll be here in five or ten minutes," he told them eagerly. "He's offered me the pony to per- suade you, beside the sixty dollars." "SittyDoir 111 "What in the world have we that's worth sixty dollars — except the mules, and they're worth more," cried Di. Sam and Mrs. Carter exchanged glances. "Couldn't we all get in the wagon and hold them off for ten minutes?" the boy suggested, but Mrs. Carter negatived this at once. "They aren't hostile yet," she said, "they're not painted for war; but if we don't give the chief what he wants, I don't know — I don't know!" And as if to emphasize her fears, the Pawnee's face appeared over Sam's shoulder. "Sitty dol!" he said once more, "Or take!" and he reached a hand toward Di as if to snatch away the concealing sunbonnet. CHAPTER X THE GOLDEN FLEECE INVOLUNTARILY the girl drew back, then she turned a startled and bewildered face to her mother. "What is it he wants,** she asked. "Me?" "No, no!" her mother answered, "only your hair, dear, that's all." But Di hardly waited for her to finish. "He'll give sixty dollars and a pony for my hair?" she questioned incredulously. "Hurry, mother, and cut if off before he changes his mind." She pulled off her sunbonnet as she spoke throwing forward her tawny mane and the Pawnee gave a grunt of satis- faction when he saw again this object of his admira- tion. Both Mrs. Carter and Sam protested, each after their own fashion. " 'Tain't fittin' for a little lady to sell her hair to an old savage," said Sam gruffly, to which Di made answer ; "I'd rather sell it than have him scalp me and get it for nothing.'* "Help will be here soon,** Sam urged, but in his heart he hardly dared hope that it would be soon enough. 112 The Golden Fleece 113 Mrs. Carter had spoken almost simultaneously with him, knowing well Di's pride in her curls and how she would mourn their loss. "What would your father say if you sold your hair, Diantha? You, a Carter!" "Dearest, dearest, it will grow again," Di urged, then she threw her arms about her mother's neck and whispered in her ear, "Darling, we need the money so, and it's such a little thing if it will help us to reach California." Then aloud, "You both talk like Uncle Toby! Come, please cut if off, or FU do it myself and make an awful botch of it." Convinced that Diantha was in earnest and was not to be deterred Sam turned to the Indian. "All right!" he said curtly. "But first let's see your money!" This was quickly produced, the pony was turned over to Sam, and in almost less time than it takes to tell it Diantha was shorn of her crowning glory, her red curls, and her mother turned away to hide the tears that threatened to blind her eyes. The Pawnee, having obtained what he wanted, made off at once with his w'hole band and when Captain Brand and his party at last reached the lonely little camp the Indians were already growing small in the distance. "Guess we scared your visitors away, ma'am," Captain Brand suggested as he dismounted from Polka Dots beside the wagon. "Sammy, we've got to give it to you ! This here little mare of yours is 114 Dian-tha's Quest the smartest pony that ever I see. She loped Into camp and as good as told me you needed me." "Isn't she a darling!'' cried Di, petting Dot's vel- vet nose. Her shorn head was covered by her sun- bonnet, and in all the talk that followed no one seemed to think it necessary to tell their rescuers that, had it not been for her sacrifice, they might have arrived too late. "You'd better stop right here till the rest of the party come up," Captain Brand said to Mrs. Carter. "It's as good a place as any for our noon lay-off and we'll all start on early this afternoon and make a long march of it." "But I do not wish to be a burden to your cara- van," Mrs. Carter began, when Brand interrupted her. "Hasn't my boy told you ? We tried to locate you the night you jumped off, to look your mules over and make sure your outfit was all right; but if you could keep ahead of us for three days I 'low you ain't goin' to have much trouble keepin' with us the rest of the way. Hey, Sammy," Captain Brand called to his son, "ain't you told these ladies how you kind of adopted 'em the other night?" Sam, very red at being thus publicly appealed to, murmured bashfully, " 'Twasn't nothin' ! Will you quit you joshin', Dad?" And finally Mr. Brand, discovering that Sam's embarrassment was actually painful, explained to Mrs. Carter that through the boy's intercession The Golden Fleece 115 they had been accepted as members of the S. Brand wagon-train. This was wonderful news for Mrs. Carter and she hastened to tell Uncle Toby that their troubles would be shared in the future. The old man, who had never faltered while the Indians were pester- ing him and meddling with everything they could lay their hands on, now came forward and stood twisting his hat in his hands, distinctly worried about something. "Please, li'l Miss," he said, "I don't think we can take on with this party. I don't see how we can do it nohow." *'Why not, Uncle Toby?" Di asked, naturally sur- prised that he should not rejoice at the prospect. "I don't see how we can do it nohow!" the old man repeated stubbornly. "Us Carters has got to be up front in any party. I done toP you that before. Now if we j'ines last we rides last and I don't know what Master Charles' is goin' to say to me if I bring you tailin' along that-a-way." "You needn't worry about that," Mrs. Carter returned. "He will be grateful to have us taken care of. And we should be only too glad to have any place in the party to make any objection to it." "But you go just where you've been all along, Mis' Carter," Sam said anxiously. "I drew number one for you." "Only don't make that number one so far ahead 116 Dianfha's Quest that we can't see your dust next time," Captain Brand suggested with a chuckle. Uncle Toby, appeased, turned back to his mules. Number one was, according to his reasoning, the only proper place for the Carters. They must lead. In recognition of the honor he proceeded to give every buckle an extra rubbing and to groom his mules as if they were race horses. He appreciated the responsibilities of the position as well as its glories. Meanwhile Sam and Di, petting Polka Dots to her heart's content, were joined by Mrs. Carter. **I want to see your clever horse, too, Sam," she said, smilingly. "I wonder if it is going to be jeal- ous of your new mustang." "Now Mis' Carter!" cried Sam, flushing hotly, "that mustang ain't mine. I only spoke that way to the Injun to gain a little time. I couldn't take it nohow. It — It would be like blood money!" "I see how you feel!" Mrs. Carter nodded. "But I still think you should have a voice in the disposing of it. What would you like to have done with it?" Sam made a motion of his head toward Di. Some- how he was shy of speaking her name. "I've got Polka Dots," he said briefly. "I thought she^d take the mustang. I could try it out with a blanket to see if it was scared of a skirt." "It might be as well," Mrs. Carter agreed, ac- cepting his suggestion at once, "although Di is used to riding all sorts of horses. And Sam, it will be a The Golden Fleece 117 great help to us to have this pony. The mules are strong, but we must save them all we can." Seeing the boy's embarrassment and inability to reply when thanked, Mrs. Carter turned away and left him with Di, who was regarding him smilingly. Then suddenly her expression changed. **I don't think you ought to give me the pony, Sam," she said miserably. "When you got on it and rode east I fancied you were deserting us, — leaving us at the mercy of the Indians. It was a mean thing to suspect and I am so ashamed." "I suppose it did look like that," Sam interrupted. "I never thought of that at the time. I just wanted to get on top of that butte to see if Dad wasn't comin' up. 'Course, if I'd dipped out of sight, the whole band would have been after me lickity split, so I never would have dared to try to run away." Di looked at him understandingly. "All the same that wasn't what kept you from leaving us," she said positively. "I'll never mis- judge you again, Sam." . "Oh, well," Sam declared, "there wasn't any reason for me to go. Those Injuns weren't on the war-path. Beside, wasn't there your fairy grand- mother to count on? Only, for the life of me, I can't see why she didn't come along in time to save your hair." "Godmother, Sam! Godmother!" Di said laugh- ing heartily. "Why, she was doing just wonders for me all the time. Certainly I was rather proud of 118 Diari'tha's Quest them, but youVe no idea what a bother my curls were; and I think if Vd had three wishes the second and third would have been for a horse and money." "Of course I saw you were set on it or I never would have give' up fighting for your hair." "I was set on it," Di agreed, "terribly set. But even if I hadn't been I would probably have had to cut if off in the end. That Indian had made up his mind that he wanted it and he would have hung on our trail till he got it somehow or other, I'm sure of that. Now we're rid of him for good and all; but it's rather turning things round, isn't it, for Argonauts to lose the Golden Fleece?" She laughed at this fancy and Sam looked at her uncompre- hendingly. "What is 'Argonauts' ?" he asked. "I know that they call the gold-seekers that, because I read it in some of the papers, but it's sort of a funny name, ain't It?" "It's Greek," Di replied. "It's taken from a sort of Greek fairy tale." "Do you know it?" Sam asked, his eyes begin- ning to shine. "Can you talk Greek?" "No, Indeed I can't," Di answered. "But these stories have been translated by people who can, and Papa loves them and has told them to me so often that I remember them pretty well. Shall I tell you this one?" "Oh, please," returned Sam longingly. "Well, there was a Prince, called Jason, whose The Golden Fleece 119 father's throne had been stolen from him, so the boy had to seek his own fortune. After many ad- ventures, which I won't stop to tell you now, he came into his father's lost kingdom, which was still ruled over by King Pelias, the man w*ho had usurped the throne. Jason had dropped a sandal by the way and came into the King's presence with one foot bare. "Now it had been foretold to King Pelias that he would be dethroned by a. man with but one sandal, so when he saw Jason he knew that this must be the man and planned to rid himself of Jason by set- ting him an impossible task. This was to go in quest of the Golden Fleece. "Jason agreed to bring this to the King if in return he would then give him back the throne, and he had a boat made, a galley of fifty oars, with a figure-head carved out of a branch of the wonderful Talking Oak Tree, which gave him wise counsel. He called this galley the Argo. "Next he summoned the heroes of Greece to his aid, Hercules, Castor and Pollux, Theseus and Orpheus, and lots of others. And, after the most wonderful adventures, where they relieved the op- pressed and slew giants, Jason, helped by Medea, an enchantress, got the better of the brazen bulls and fiery dragon that guarded the Fleece for her father. King ^etes. He seized the Fleece and sailed safely away before King ^etes had a chance to burn the Argo as he had planned to do. And, because of the 120 Diantha's Quest name of the boat, all those men who went to seek the Golden Fleece are known as Argonauts." Di paused for breath. Sam had listened, almost afraid to move lest he should miss a word. "I see now," he said slowly. **We're Argo- nauts, too, because we're after gold." Then struck by a sudden thought. "Why don't you call the mustang Argo? It would be a grand name for it." "I was wondering what to call it," Di said. "Argo it shall be." She reached out a hand to the pony, which, unused to petting, at first threw up its head sharply, but soon discovered that no harm was meant and munched a bunch of grass held out to it. **Do all the different countries have fairy tales of their own?" Sam asked wistfully. **And can you read about 'em? I never saw many books except my school books," he added. "Yes," said Di, **I believe all countries have such stories, but most of the ones I know I learned from my father, not from books." "Then they must be true," Sam said positively. "People wouldn't remember lies all these years." "Let's hobble the ponies and turn them out to graze," Di suggested, with a sudden change of subject. "I'll have to take care of Argo myself. Uncle Toby has enough to do with Salt and Sugar and Snowflake." "I'll help you," said Sam. "I haven't any work to speak of." The Golden Fleece 121 "You'll have to help me with something else too," Di hinted mysteriously. *'I want to find a wishing- well." "A wishing-well ?" Sam's tone was incredulous but at once he altered it. He was ready to believe any- thing Diantha believed. "Is there such a thing?" "Yes," Di declared, "there isl Don't you re- member what the good fairy promised at my christening? But we've got to be very careful what we wish. A person may find himself in trouble, like the rich man and his wife in the story." "How was that?" asked Sam, all eagerness at the suggestion of another tale. "Oh, once upon a time there were two brothers, one rich, one poor. A beggar walking by asked lodging from the rich man, who refused to open his door and take her in. But next day when he saw a pretty cottage where his brother's wretched hovel had stood he went over and inquired how it came about and was told that a fairy they had sheltered had granted them three wishes. They had wished for good health, their daily food, and a clean, new cottage. "The rich brother told them what stupids he thought them not to wish for great wealth and a fine castle while t*hey were about it. Then he had his horse saddled and rode off to catch up with the fairy. "He overtook her and made excuses for not let- ting her in the night before, vowing that he couldn't 122 Diantha's Quest find the key of the door; and at last, whether she believed him or not, she granted his wife and him three wishes, just as she had his brother and sister- in-law.*' *'I wouldn't have given him a thing!" Sam broke in indignantly. "Fairies are very wise," returned Di. "Perhaps she knew what use they would make of their wishes. At any rate, listen to the rest of the story!" "The man rode home in haste and boasted to his wife of his success. " *But now,' he said, *we must be very careful. We have only three wishes and we want to make sure that we get all we can out of them.' "His wife began to complain that he hadn't asked for a dozen wishes while he was about it, but he bade her be silent and go fetch him some lunch to his study where he was going to plan the whole matter. She came a few moments later with a tray which he looked at greatly dissatisfied, for he was a greedy person. " *Is that all you've brought me ?' he asked. *Why can't I have some of that good bag-pudding we had for supper last night ?' " *My dear,' his wife told him, *the servants ate every scrap of it. Come, try this sausage.* " *I don't want sausage !' he interrupted. *What I want is cold bag-pudding. It is very hard when I am trying to think that I can't have the sort of food I need.' The Golden Fleece 123 " *Well,* said his wife, 'I wish I had a bag-pudding a yard long for you.' "Of course as the words left her mouth a most wonderful, big bag-pudding dropped down on the table in front of them. But at sight of it the man flew into a rage. " *You stupid!' he cried. 'To waste one of our precious wishes! For my part I wish the pudding was stuck fast to your nose for your pains !' '' "And it was, I bet!" cried Sam, roaring with laughter. "Yes,'' said Diantha, "Then, seeing what he had done, the man tried to pacify his wife by telling her he was about to wish for the riches of an emperor and would then take her to the wisest doctor in the world to have her nose cut off, for he knew right well that the pudding would stick to it forever. " *You can have an emerald nose, my dear, or a ruby one,' he reminded her, hut the woman would not listen to reason. " *My own nose suits me,' she said. What good would a^ll the wealth you talk of be to me if I had to go through life without a nose or with a yard of pudding stuck to me? My wishes are as good as yours, and I wish, right now, that this pudding may fly out of the window where we will never see it again.' "And, at her words, all they had left to remind them of the three fairy wishes was some broken gla»s and a big hole in their window panes." 124 Diantha's Quest "That was a fine story," said Sam. "Are you sure there are such things now-a-days as wishing- wells?" "Yes/' answered Diantha, "there really are, and I feel sure we'll find one if you'll help me. Here comes the wagon-train." Sure enough, the first teams were just driving over the brow of the little hill; but before they came up Di had time to add: "Remember we shall have to be very careful. We'll only have one wish apiece at a wishing-well." "I know what I want most," Sam returned con- fidently. "And so do I," declared Diantha, softly. CHAPTER XI LITTLE TIMMY CRONIN AMID a vast amount of shouting and noise the ^S. Brand wagon-train came to a halt at)out the Carter outfit. There was an instant de- mand for an explanation of Polka Dots* exploit, and at the first mention of Indians a volley of ex- cited questions filled the air. Sam found himself the center of an eager group of men and women who insisted upon minute details, and the boy soon became something of a hero, much to his embarrass- ment. Di, however, had been called away by an anxious- eyed woman who beckoned to her from the back of a wagon. "What is it, Mrs. Cronin?" the girl asked, noting the other's distress. "Where's your ma? I'm needin' her sorely." "Is it the baby?" "Aye, that it is I" Mrs. Cronin mourned. "He's in knots with the pain all last night and this mornin', and no one able to ease him. Fetch your ma, quick, dearie, for the love o' Heaven. I'm fearin' me little Timmy will pass away, and I have no help with him." 125 126 Diantha^s Quest "ril get her at once," Di answered as she started off. "Don't you worry, Mrs. Cronin, mama will know what to do," and a few minutes later she was back with Mrs. Carter, who carried her precious medicine case. "Di," she commanded after one look at the ail- ing infant, "run and bring our kettle of hot water at once. Hurry now!" The girl raced back to the wagon and grabbed the kettle off the stove from under Uncle Toby's astonished eyes. "Land sakes. Miss Di, what is you-all doin'?" he cried in protest. "Fm gwine use that this minute. Hot water ain't come by so easy here as it is in Henry County, Virginia." "Mother wants it for a sick baby," Di called back over her shoulder as she tore away. "If li'l Miss wants it for a person what is ailin' ol' Toby might jes' as well save his bref," he grumbled; but secretly he was enormously proud of his mis- tress's skill in healing and declared upon many oc- casions that, if he had to choose between Mrs. Car- ter and a regular physician, in case he required medi- cal treatment, he would insist upon the former. "But I ain't one of them shif'less, pinin' kind o' folks," he would conclude with a touch of scorn in his voice. Luckily Mrs. Carter's help came in the nick of time for the Cronin baby. Sam's strategy in send- ing Polka Dots back, although it had not saved Di's curls, did have the effect of hastening the caravan Little TImmy Cronin 127 to poor little Timmy's benefit. Di pointed this out to Sam some time later and the fact made a decided impression on the boy. "It's funny/' he said thoughtfully. "I wasn't even thinking o' Timmy Cronin! I 'low you can't always tell what's to come of somethin' you kind o' start goin'. I reckon, if Dots hadn't gone back, the S. Brand outfit wouldn't a-shown up here till a couple of hours later, and that might have been too late for the baby, you say. It certainly is funny how things turn out." Although Mrs. Carter's first patient was the most serious one and taxed her energy and skill to the ut- most, there were others in the train who suffered from small ailments and were glad of her advice and treatment. So, instead of getting back at once to her own wagon, she was stopped a number of times as she made her way through the camp, and it was almost time for the caravan to start on again when, tired and hungry, she at last reached her own white- topped home. "And how is the baby?'* Di asked, as slie and Uncle Toby busied themselves about the small table while Mrs. Carter ate her belated dinner. "He's going to pull through," was the cheering answer. "He won't be left behind this time, but it is very fortunate I saw him when I did. It was a ques- tion of minutes, my dear." "What is the matter with the poor little thing?" "Nothing except the awful food they give him," 128 Diantha's Quest Mrs. Carter explained. **After all I saiid to Mrs. Cronin in St. Joseph, what do you suppose she was giving that baby? Great lumps of fat, salt pork!*' **Horrors 1*' exclaimed Di, with a shudder. "How do you suppose the other Cronin children lived to grow big?** "I don't understand it,'* her mother admitted. "It's like some of the darky babies on the plantation who thrive in spite of everything. I remember one under six months old, fat and healthy whose mother told me she loved it so much she couldn't deny it anything, so when she saw it was *jest a honin' ' for hot beaten biscuit and persimmons she fed It on them, and they seemed to agree with it perfectly. Mrs. Cronin's excuse was that she couldn't bear to see Timmy a bag of bones, so she tried to get some fat into him." "So long as they're with us you'll be able to keep an eye on t'hings," Di said practically, "but now you're going to get in the wagon and lie down. Both Uncle Toby and I say so. The mules will have only half a day's work, and I'm going to ride Argo. Sam says he's perfectly safe." "But you have no saddle, Di," her mother pro- tested. "It's late in the day to worry about that, mama dear," Di laughed. "You know your daughter is the only red-headed Indian in existence." Her words reminded her mother of the lost hair and she turned the conversation to that subject. Little Timmy Cronin 129 "Take off your sunbonnet and let me look at you. I can't tell you how badly I felt when I cut off your curls/' "Please, please, don't mourn over them," Di urged. "I don't intend to. Think how much the money means to us. Why, I would have given the Pawnee one of my fingers for sixty dollars, and even you couldn't make that grow again ! As for the hair, it's sort of stubby yet, but it will begin to curl in a day or so and I'm going to love it, it's so cool and comfortable." She took off her sunbonnet as she spoke and her mother looked at her a trifle sadly. "Has Uncle Toby seen you?" she asked appre- hensively, whereat DI chuckled. "No'm," she said, "and he isn't going to, yet awhile. He was on guard over the mules and he doesn't know one thing about it. He'd be worse than you are, and he'd never get over reminding me that 'it wasn't fittin' for us Cyarters to sell our cyurls !" Mrs. Carter smiled faintly at this imitation. "Perhaps you're right," she said, then adding, "I will lie down, I think," she entered the wagon, and a few moments later Uncle Toby, radiating pride, made his first start at the head of the S. Brand caravan. Di and Sam rode at either side like out-riders but they soon grew tired of such close attendance on the wagons and took little excursions here and there 130 Diantha's Quest over the plains. Argo was not, perhaps, the equal of Polka Dots in beauty and intelligence ; but, as Di pointed out, he had lacked educational advantages and like most Indian ponies he was an easy-gaited little beast, so both boy and girl enjoyed themselves thoroughly and Sam soon grew to know Di well enough to call her by her name without shyness. "I found that word *Nautilus' in my guide book,'* he told her, "but it doesn't say anything about fairy boats. It's just an insurance company." "I want to see that book some time," Di said, and Sam returned heartily: "Sure ! After we make camp tonight. Perhaps we can locate just where we are. It's the real Con- gresh'nal map, you know." The party made a good march that afternoon and all began to feel themselves veterans of the trail. After supper while the light still lingered, Sam sought DI with his guide-book in his hand. They seated themselves side by side and pored over the map which he spread out. "We've come suc'h a little way and we have so far to go yet," Di said at last with a sigh, as she re- folded the map. "But we're on the move," Sam returned. "Don't ever forget that. Dad doesn't mean to waste no time — any time I mean," he corrected himself. The boy's ear was true and already he was refining his speech, taking Di for his model. "Wouldn't you like to read this book straight through? I'll lend Little Timmy Cronin 131 you a loan of It." He held out the precious brown- paper covered pamphlet; but Di refused it with thanks, explaining that she thought it was more fun to go over it together. *'Even the advertisements are kind of interestin'," said Sam, flicking over the pages. "Look at this, for instance.'* He pointed to the cut of a neat little cottage, complete to an awning over the door. "Doesn't it beat all what people will think of? That's a rust-proof, portable iron house, built to sort of fold up, I reckon, for the book says it won't take up much room on ship board. What do you think of fellers buyin' a house in New York to live in in Calif orny?" "It seems mighty silly to me," said Di frankly. "But I suppose people buy them or they wouldn't be made." "I reckon the reason for that is that they don't want to waste time on felling logs and building, when they might be digging fortunes out of the ground," Sam suggested. "Listen to what it says about that." He began to turn the leaves agam to find his place and Di seized the opportunity to ask: "Who wrote the book? Mr. J. E. Sherwood?" "No," answered Sam seriously, "not all of it. He only printed it. What I'm going to read is a real letter to the War Department from; — er — from — " He found the place at last. "From R. B. Mason, Colonel First Dragoons, Commanding. He was the 132 Diantha's Quest Governor of California," the boy explained. "I know, 'cause it says so somewhere else. It tells all about how he rode to the mines last summer. In June everyone, almost, had gone from San Francisco, there were even two or three ships in the harbor without crews ; and all the way "to Sutter's Fort he found *mills idle, houses vacant, wheat fields open to cattle.' " **I think gold drives people crazy," declared DI. "If I had a home of my own I wouldn't run off and leave it for all the gold in the world." "But you're going a lot farther than these people," Sam suggested, and. he remembered as well her eagerness to sell her curls ; but he had the deli- cacy not to mention that. "I'm going for something more precious than gold," DI said dreamily. She was looking toward the west with eyes that seemed to see visions, but suddenly she shook herself like a wet puppy and brought herself back to earth. "Go- on about your Colonel Mason. I'm Interested." "I'll skim through It and tell you what he says," Sam suggested, a little shy at trying to read so much aloud. "They went twenty-five miles up the Ameri- can River to a place called the Mormon DIggln's. He says, *the hillsides were thick with canvass tents and brush arbors.' There was a store there and several boarding shanties. (Dad and I will like that. We hate to rustle our own grub.) It was ter- rible hot 'but two hundred men were washing gold Little TImmy Cronin 133 in ■ the glare, some with pans, some with closely woven Indian baskets; but the greater number with *a rude machine known as a cradle.' Why do you suppose he called it that?'' Sam broke off to ask. "A cradle?" Di was puzzled. "No, no," said Sam. "That's because it has rock- ers. I see that. *Rude' is the word I'm bothered about. I thought it meant not mannerly." **0h," said Di, "I understand. But I think he means a machine that isn't very well made. Words do have two meanings sometimes." "They hadn't ought to," Sam returned. "What's the use of makin' a puzzle out of what you say? But anyhow that's the kind of a machine this was, and with four fellers to work it they made about four hundred dollars a day." "Even at that rate it would take quite a time to make a large fortune," Di said thoughtfully. "Does he give any more figures?" "Well, he talks of two men, who employed — " the boy glanced at the book for confirmation, "four whites and a hundred Indians, and they took out seventeen thousand dollars in one week and cleared ten thousand." Di gave a little gasp; but not as Sam supposed at the amount made. Instead she began to calculate. "If one hundred and four men cost seven thou- sand dollars a week how much does one man cost? It certainly sounds like an arithmetic lesson. But { 134 Diantha's Quest doesn't it strike you that expenses must be very, very high?" "It kind of sounds that way," Sam acknowledged, rubbing his head reflectively, "but Colonel Mason seem to think they find a lot of gold. Here he says, *I could not have credited these reports had I not been shown the metal.* And somewhere else he 'loVs, the gold seekers *have merely scratched the surface.' And another place says, enough gold will be taken out *to pay for the Mexican war a hundred times over'." Wait a minute," said Di, as he turned the pages rapidly. "I want to read something myself." Sam handed her the book and she searched through it diligently. "Here it is," she said at last, finding a paragraph she had glimpsed as he turned. "He tells about a Mr. Sinclair whose rancho is three miles above Sut- ter's. He employed fifty Indians and showed four- teen pounds of gold for a week's work. So far he had taken out sixteen thousand dollars." "That's a heap of money," said Sam. "It would pay for my education that I mean to have." "Yes," Di agreed, "I suppose it would, but from May first to July tenth Brannan's store at Sutter's Fort took in thirty-six thousand dollars for goods they sold the miners." "What of it?" Sam protested. "It wasn't one outfit that paid all that in. I suppose it's kind oi Little Timmy Cronin. 135 expensive to live, but everyone is sure to have lots left." "That wasn^t just what I was thinking," explained Di. "My idea was that a store is more of a gold mine than a gold mine is." For a moment Sam seemed bewildered by her words and kept repeating them, parrot-like. " 'A store is more of a gold mine than a gold mine is' !" Then, as the logic of her reasoning came home to him, he began to combat it. Not to keep a store had he taken this long journey. He wished more spirited adventure to spice his undertaking. "Oh, well," he said, "Pd liefer dig my own gold, and 'sides," he added as an afterthought, "that thirty-six thousand dollars wasn't clear profit. That man Brannan paid something for the goods." Di acquiesced in this, but she was still thought- ful. It had become clear to her that there must be a great deal of labor involved in getting out the gold, for in all of the cases where large amounts were mentioned many helpers had been hired. But the Brands were men-folk and could take care of them- selves. If things were as this army officer's report led her to believe they would find it out soon enough. She skimnied through his letter again and found nothing in it to indicate that he did not think the returns fabulous and the gold inexhaustible. Still she shook a wise little head. Her New England inheritance perhaps was speaking to her. "Here's something interesting!" she said sudden- 136 Diantha's Quest ly, looking up. "Did you read it? How Mr. Marshall discovered gold?'' "You mean at the sawmill he was building for Captain Sutter?" Sam asked. *'I remember some- thing about it. He and Sutter agreed to keep it se- cret till the workmen finished his grist mill, too ; but the news got out and spread like magic." "I think their finding the gold was more like magic," Di suggested. "If they had gotten all the water they needed in the race, it might have remained undiscovered to this day. But they didn't, and, to save labor in widening the race and to make it deeper as well, they turned the full force of the stream into it. Of course this washed a lot of mud and sand to the foot of it, which was full of shin- ing specks of gold — " "Miss Di, you is the beatinest child for gettin' lost ! Li'l Miss gwine to have a conniption this time, sure." It was Uncle Toby, and Di scrambled to her feet hurriedly, giving Sam back his book. "It's getting too dark to read," she said. "Good- night, Sam. I'll see you in the morning. There's a queer, queer picture in there. I had a glimpse of it just now, and I'm crazy to know about it. Come on. Uncle Toby. Of course mama isn't having a conniption; but if she wants me — " Her voice trailed off In the distance, and Sam stretched out on the turf, his precious book in his hand, whistling a soft serenade to the evening star. CHAPTER XII BUFFALO EARLY next morning the S. Brand wagon- train took up its leisurely march across the fertile plains. At mid-day it rested and then went on again until Captain Brand called a halt for the night. So day followed day in an orderly rou- tine, the distance covered depending upon the condi- tion of the road they traveled, the abundance of food for their cattle and the delays incident to the vari- ous accidents to their equipment. The monotony of their lives made even small events seem important. A night when a storm blew down all the tents, and soaked those who slept on the ground ; a forenoon when eight rattlesnakes were killed; or the camp where both men and animals were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes so dense that existence was possible only in the smoke of smudge fires — all these happenings were dated from for a while and then forgotten. As a whole the party was a reasonable and con- tented one. There was little bickering and discon- tent, which was due in large measure to the good- natured firmness of Mr. Brand. He felt his respon- sibilities and took his duties seriously. He was in- 137 138 Diantha's Quest dined to laugh and make light of threatened dangers, but never neglected to take the precautions neces- sary to avert them. Without assuming any hint of arrogance he nevertheless insisted that, so long as he was the leader, the others must follow; and those who elected him quickly came to realize that their choice had been a wise one. In addition to the endless talk of gold, Indians and buffalos constituted the chief topics of conversa- tion. The savages were feared, but the wild, shaggy cattle of the plains, about which many strange tales had reached their ears, were a curiosity, and the en- tire train was on the look-out to sight one of the im- mense herds which rumor numbered by the tens of thousands. So one day, when a cloud of dust rolled toward them from the east, the opinion of the camp was immediately divided as to the cause of it. "Buffalos at last!" cried some. "It's Injuns!'' others maintained, and they ran to Captain Brand for instructions. "Well," he said, in his slow drawling way, "I've been a-lookin' at that cloud o' dust fer ten minutes, and I opine you is both wrong." "It's bound to be one or the other, Cap'n. All that dust!" they contended. "No, It ain't," Mr. Brand insisted good-humored- ly. "Neither buffalos nor Injuns ride the trail. It's a big outfit comin' through in record time or I miss my guess." Buffalo 139 **But we ain't been laggln'/* Tupper maintained, and nods of approval from those about him showed that he voiced their feeling. "WeVe been doin' fairly well,'' Mr. Brand agreed, "but we don't aim to be no express. We ain't organized for it. We got away with a good start, but from now on we'll have company. There's out- fits comin' that will leave us like we was standin' still." These predictions proved entirely correct. An hour later fifty mule-teams rattled past, leaving their dust to choke the Angel Mules and to ruffle Uncle Toby's temper almost to the bursting point. Before the day had ended two hundred horse-teams had also left them behind. And, crowning humiliation, at a point where the S. Brand had laid off for a day or two, thirt}' ox-teams lumbered by. Daily thereafter train upon train pushed ahead of them, greatly to the annoyance of Sam and many of the younger men. *'There won't be much gold left for us," they mur- mured, but their captain refused to be hurried. "Don't you worry," he repeated again and again every day. "We'll get there. Safe and sure's my motter, and a live snail is better than a dead ante- lope. We ain't no BidwelFs Bar Express, but all the same we'll be passin' some of these here fellers that is passin' us afore a great while. As for the gold — There'll be enough for all hands." But the increasing number of emigrant trains 140 Diantha's Quest moving ahead of them did have its effect in more ways than one. Fire wood practically disappeared. At best the natural growth was small and these hordes of gold hunters swept the plains bare for miles on either side of the trail like an army of locusts. For many days dried grass and buffalo chips were their only fuel. A yet more serious privation, of which fortunate- ly they had warning from a mule team traveling east, was caused by the burning of last year's growth over a wide area between them and the River Platte. **We reckon it was done deliberate," one of the drivers said. "They didn't mean others to get through, if they could stop them. A crowd took the trail after them, but it was no good. That BidwelFs Bar train had the heels of 'em and they gave up and came back. But it won't be healthy for any of that outfit if they get caught." This news reconciled many who had previously thought longingly of the Bidwell's Bar Express. They were honest folk and had no wish to be mixed up with one who would be guilty of so dastardly a trick; for in their hearts, all of them held Yerber alone to blame for firing the grass. They cut fodder and fuel and carried it with them over the burned section, but neither they nor their cattle reached the Platte in as good condition as otherwise they would have done. They had been a month or more on the road when they trailed by Ft. Kearney where they learned Buffalo 141 that three thousand wagons had already passed that point. But from there they began to find increasing evidence that the pace was beginning to tell on those who were ahead of them. Two of the four Tupper girls, who had a pair of raw-boned horses which they took turns in rid- ing, came in with the first spoils. Di and Sam met them as they were hurrying back to the train and, although the day was blistering hot, Seraphy was arrayed in a heavy pelisse of puce velvet, while her sister proudly wore a beaver bonnet. They had found them abandoned beside the trail, together with an ox-yoke, two cook stoves and a considerable quantity of groceries which had been purposely rendered useless ; for sand had been mixed with the sugar, turpentine poured on the flour and a large amount of good clothing had been deliberately torn to tatters. The Tupper girls gave these details excitedly. "It seemed like they didn't want nobody to profit by what they'd left behind!" Melindy explained, "but when it come to spoilin' this bunnet, the woman who owned it just couldn't bring herself to do it." **An' I don't blame her," Seraphy said, stroking the velvet pelisse. "This here stuff is as soft as a horse's nose. I never saw anything as rich, and I allow to take it to Californy if I have to throw everything else away." "And then if you meet the girl it belongs to you 142 Diantha's Quest could give it back/' Di suggested eagerly. "Wouldn't that be fun? She'd be so surprised to see it." "Give it back to her!" exclaimed Seraphy in wide-eyed amazement. "I don't see myself doin' no sudh thing! Findin's is keepin's! That's law. There ain't no call o' my totin' this all the way to Californy for a stranger. Beside, she throwed it away, didn't she? And it suits me too, doesn't it?" Di could find no ready answer to this and the girls rode off, somewhat offended. Sam who had been but little interested in this feminine finery, was somewhat puzzled at Di's silence and glanced sidewise at her as they rode along together. "Say, Di," he said, after a moment or two, "findin's is keepin's, ain't it?" "I suppose so," the girl answered slowly, "only — " She stopped. It wasn't easy to explain just what she had in mind. "Of course," Sam went on, "it wasn't like as if the people who owned these things had lost 'em accidental. They throwed them away deliberate." "Yes, that's true too," Di replied thoughtfully, "but Sam, they were forced to leave them, you see. That makes a difference, doesn't it?" "Somehow it seems to," Sam agreed, a bit puz- zled. Again they rode on in silence for a time. "I tell you," Sam said at length, as if he had come to a solution of something that had bothered him. "The Tupper girls don't see that there's anything •THERE'S INJUNS. TOO' Buffalo 143 wrong In keepin' those things, and I guess they will. Now If you'd found 'em you'd think you ought to give 'em back. That's the difference." "But that doesn't prove whether it's right or wrong to keep them," Di argued. "Yes, it does," Sam maintained. "You think it would be wrong to keep 'em and it would be for you. But the Tupper girls think it would be right, so it would be for them. It's all accordin' to how you're raised." "Sam," cried Di, "I believe you're a philosopher or something like that. But really, you know, what I was thinking of most was how funny it would be if the Tuppers should meet the people who had left their finery behind. Can't you just see their faces," and she went off into a peal of laughter. In her imagination DI pictured the scene vividly and it amused her hugely. But Sam could not always follow these flights of hers and, moreover, he had begun to doubt for the first time in his life that "findin's is keepln's." That same evening after the sun had set Sam was sitting beside the Carter outfit. He and Dlan- tha were quietly talking over the day's events when a red glare leaped up in the sky to the west of them. "Look!" cried the boy, as he sprang to his feet. "What is there to burn over there?" Di asked, beside him. "There's a good many outfits ahead of us," Sam replied, and then significantly, "there's Injuns, too." 144 Dianlrha's Quest "Oh Sam!'* exclaimed Di, "could it be that?' "Dunno," the boy answered, "but Fm going to tell dad/' and he ran off. Others had seen the light by this time and there were many looking and pointing as Captain Brand came up. One glance was enough for him. The wagons were always set fencing in a sort of corral to which the mules and horses would stam- pede when frightened by coyotes, wolves, or sudden storms. Orders were now hurriedly given to collect the animals within this corral. Arms were looked to and guards were set ; then they waited, but nothing happened. Finally Captain Brand suggested that all retire as usual. "It may be Injuns and it may not," he said. "At any rate I don't believe they mean to bother us. We'll keep watch all night and if they come we'll give them a hot welcome. Meanwhile don't lose any beauty sleep over it. We're big enough to take care of ourselves." This advice was sensible, and all but the guards turned in. The next day at dawn saw them on their way again, but it was not till nearly time for their noon lay-off that they came up to what had alarmed them the previous night. Brand at once called a halt and went forward with a number of men to examine what they feared was the scene of an atrocity. Two wagons, burnt till little remained of them Buffalo 145 but the metal work, were the first things that caught the eye. Three dead horses and a dead cow were the next, but there were no people dead or wounded. The place was deserted. The emigrants looked at each other, white under their tan. "Took 'em prisoners or burned 'em, Captain," one man whispered. " 'Frald so," Brand agreed, stepping forward to look the dead animals over. Then, more swiftly, he cast his eye over the ground around, going from point to point hurriedly. At last he gave a shout of amusement and relief. *'I guess the joke's on us !" he cried with restored cheerfulness. "There ain't been no Injuns here at all. These critters just up an' died, and the party was forced to leave a wagon or two behind. Not being wishful to help those back of 'em, they set 'em afire. That was what we saw last night. Their own little bonfire. I listened for shots and, when I didn't hear 'em, I concluded either that the whites were all dead or that we was too far away for the sound to carry. In either case I knew we wasn't near enough to help." "We would a-looked fine, wouldn't we," Tupper chuckled. "S'posin' It had been a little nearer and we'd rode over to act the rescuin' heroes." The men were all vastly relieved to find their ap- prehensions groundless; but soon the sight of valu- ables abandoned and destroyed became such a com- monplace of the trail that It excited little Interest or 146 DIantha's Quest comment. It was a curious fact that those who had no further use for the things themselves should be- grudge them to others. People seemed to go to con- siderable trouble to render what they left behind useless, but it would take many months of weary labor in the gold fields to replace the value of what was thrown away in crossing the continent. That night they came to a "real cold spring," and it was decided to lay off again for a couple of days to rest the animals. The only objection to the camp was its lack of fuel, but even Uncle Toby had grown so accustomed to using buffalo chips by this time that he almost forgot to grumble about it. A day or two of rest was a welcome change for both Sam and Di. But just what to do with a holi- day was a question, for they were not encouraged to wander too far from the camp. "Let's go over on the butte,'' Di suggested. "It's not so far that mother will scold, but it's far enough to get us away from the smell of smoke and cooking. And Sam, bring your book. There's a funny picture in it that I've never forgotten. I meant to have seen it long ago." "I'll swap you even," returned Sam firmly. "You promised you'd show me your map some day and you never have. I'll bring the book if you bring the map." "Of course I will," Di agreed. "I always in- tended to show it to you; but it's a thing that takes Buffalo 147 a lot of explaining and we never seemed to have enough time to make it worth while to begin." The two went to their respective wagons and then slowly walked together to the butte that rose out of the sea of prairie. The day was practically cloud- less, and as usual their objective proved to be farther off than it appeared to be. "This ridin' all the time makes a feller soft," said Sam. ^Tm sort of puffy walkin' just this little way." "It's quite a distance," Di returned, "but you can ride back if you want to, for here comes Dots. She certainly follows you as if she was a puppy." "She's a great little pony," Sam said, looking at his treasure affectionately. Then they both for- got her as they ascended the hill and seated them- selves on its summit. Di reached out a hand for Sam's book and spread out its map on the grass between them. "Here's about where we are." She pointed with a spear of grass. "We've come all the way from there. You can see this time that we've made real progress." "We're getting on," said Sam, lazily, lingering over the map. "But which was the funny picture you wanted to see? The gold washer? It's got a whole page near the back." He began hunting for it. "No," Di answered taking the book from him and turning the pages. "This," she said at last, holding 148 Dlantha's Quest it open at a smaller cut and reading hastily to her- self. She looked at it with knit brows for some time and when she spoke again it was half-angrily. "Why do people who can't understand a thing act as if their stupidity was something to be proud of?" **What's it all about?" Sam asked, "and why do you care?" "Oh, this man Rufus Porter, editor of the Scienti- fic Mechanic, says he's going to take people to California by air and Mr. Sherwood just makes fun of him." "I read it," Sam chuckled. "I remember now. 'Tis a fool idea, isn't it?" "You don't believe he can do it?" Di spoke heat- edly. "Well listen. He says, *A bouyant float, in the nature of a revoloidal spindle, should lift twenty- two thousand pounds.' A steam engine to run it would weigh two thousand, and you could carry seventy-five passengers and their baggage. I don't see why that isn't a perfectly good calculation." Sam chuckled again. *Oh, you can laugh, Sam Brand!" Di exclaimed. "There were people who laughed at steam-engines once." "Oh, well," Sam said, half apologetically, "of course I know you're a lot smarter than I am, but what's it going to run on? Tell me that! You can't lay tracks on the air." "You don't need tracks for steam-boats, do you?" Buffalo 149 Di asked crushingly. "Why can't this machine run like they do?" Receiving no answer Di looked up. Sam was no longer listening to her. Instead he was propped stiffly erect, his eyes widened and his mouth a little open in an extremity of surprise. And well might he be amazed. Here at last was the herd of buffalo they had all longed to see. Thou- sands of the shaggy beasts in a dense mass, their heads lowered to the grass upon w'hich they grazed, had moved slowly and quietly forward until the hill upon which Di and Sam were sitting was en- tirely surrounded except on one side where a lane lay open to the plain. The boy and girl gazed down the side of the green butte upon this sea of rusty brown backs, awe- struck with wonder at the sight. It was almost as if a carpet had been spread over the sward, so closely were the buffalos packed together. But quickly their surprise gave place to anxiety. There was something menacing and fearful about this multitude of unreasoning beasts. "We must go down from here before they over- fun us, "Di said, turning a little pale. She had heard tales of unfortunate people who had been caught in such a herd and trampled to death. That these tales were true, the spectacle before her amply proved. Nothing could withstand the onward rush di tkis seetbiftg mass df bone and muscle. 150 Dian'tha's Quest Di started to get up, but Sam, wisely, placed a restraining hand upon her shoulder. **Don't move," he cautioned in a whisper. "Dad says they're mighty curious. If they saw us they might come up here to have a look." "But Sam — ," Di began, but the boy interrupted quietly. "We just don't dare to run the risk of frighten- ing them," he said. "We're all right, so long as they don't git scared. They'll go around this hill. So long's we're afoot, our best chance Is to stay quiet." He looked about him and, in the open space where the head of the herd had divided to avoid climbing the butte, he saw Polka Dots grazing. There lay their means of escape, and the boy, realizing this at once, began to whistle, at first softly, then louder and louder. In a moment the little mustang lifted her head, pricking forward her ears in their direction. Again Sam whistled and as the sound reached the pony they saw her start toward them, her pace increasing steadily. "We're all right now," Sam murmured, but his elation was short-lived. Almost as he spoke a rifle shot rang out on the far side of the hill. This was quickly followed by another and the alarm of the buffalos was Instantaneous. Their great heads were lifted nervously and then, with a bellowing that was almost deafening, the crazed herd plunged forward in one wild stampede. • CHAPTER XIII DOTS TO THE RESCUE THE Stampede of a thousand buffalos meant death to anyone who was in their path. Ordi- narily the hill on which Sam and Diwere sitting would have divided the herd which would have con- tinued to graze around its base and move on slowly into the open country, but it was not steep enough to turn them when they had been alarmed. They surged up the side of it, their clumsy lumbering gait, swifter by far than it looked, rapidly closing the gap be- tween them and the children. The noise of their thudding hoofs filled the air like the rolling of drums and Diantha, fascinated by the fate that seemed in- evitable, sat transfixed, unable to take her eyes from their tossing heads. Suddenly Sam's voice roused her from the daze in which she was plunged. *'Oh good little Dots !'' he shouted. "Come on, Di, she'll save us yet." He seized the girl's hand as he spoke, dragging her to her feet, and together they ran down the far slope up which the pinto pony was coming to their rescue dodging through the scattered buffalos, who, on that side of the hill, 151 152 Diantha*s Quest were as yet only vaguely uneasy, lifting up their heads from the grass and listening to the approach of the herd which soon was to sweep them with it in blind terror. In and out Polka Dots dodged, and the children ran to meet her. "If she only had a bridle on," Sam said, **but she hasn't, ril grab her mane and mount. Then Til give you a hand, and you put your foot on mine and swing up behind me. After that it is up to Dots. We'll be swept along with the herd and if she keeps her feet, we'll be able to pull out sooner or later." *'She's sure-footed," Di panted bravely; but just at that moment Polka Dots seemed to falter. She had seen the approaching line of the herd and hesi- tated. Sam whistled piercingly and once more the little mustang obeyed the call, but she was frightened now. She knew the danger she had to meet, and she reached them barely in time. Sam wheeled her as he mounted, then swung Di up behind him. This steadied the pinto. She no longer had to face that oncoming line of shaggy heads, and her beloved master was on her back, whistling as usual. Indeed she never faltered thereafter, even when the herd en- gulfed them. The noise was stunning and there was no resisting the stampede ; for a time they were swept along with- out a word between them. But of a sudden Di shouted in Sam's ear. Dots to the Rescue 153 "Whistle louder, Sam. As loud as you can. The buffalos don't like itF* Obediently Sam emitted the most piercing notes in his repertory, and to his surprise he found that Di was right. Almost imperceptibly the animals which had pressed them so closely that his legs had touched their heaving sides drew away. They still were closed in by buffaloes; but if Dots had only worn a bridle he would have been able to draw back bit by bit. As it was he could do little save gentle the mare and whistle; but of her own accord she lessened her pace when she could, and it soon became evident that the herd was out-distancing them. "We're being left behind, Sam," Di cried. "Look! We're not in a tight mass of buffalos any longer." Indeed the scattered end of the herd was all that now surrounded them. The noise and dust and smell had passed them, but it was not till the last yearling had lumbered by that Sam dared to bring Dots to a halt. Now that the danger was over the boy was shak- ing a little. Dots had saved them, but he had felt his responsibility for Di's life and he would have liked to slip off the horse and throw himself flat on the ground, torn as It was with the passage of many hoofs, until he had recovered somewhat from what he had been through. Di, however, was scanning the trail over which 154 Dlantha*s Quest they had come, her hand shading her eyes, for her sunbonnet had gone long before in their first mad rush. *'I wonder how far it is ?" she asked gravely. "We must ride back as fast as we can. Poor mother will not know what has happened — and your father, too." "Don't believe Dad knew where I was going,'' Sam said, but he gave up the idea of resting before they went back, and managed to head Dots toward the camp. It was easy enough to follow the broad trail left by the herd, but they had not gone very far along before they saw a party riding toward them. "Here comes mother!" Di cried. "I guess she 'most did have one of Uncle Toby's conniptions this time. It would take that to get her on a horse." She leaned sidewlse and waved her hand to the approach- ing riders, who responded with shouts and redoubled speed. "Are either of you injured?" cried Mrs. Carter, as she drew rein beside them. Her face was pale, showing the strain she had endured; but her tone was calm. "Not a scratch, mama," Di answered, in a voice she strove to keep gay. Truth to tell the sight of her mother had brought her unexpectedly to the verge of tears, just why she would have found It hard to say. "Who fired that shot?" Sam demanded. "There Dots to the Rescue 155 wouldn't have been any trouble except for that, most likely.'* "How come you didn't see the buffalos, Sammy?" Brand asked. "You was on a rise. We was down in the creek-bottom, so naturally they bust on us sudden-like; but I don't know why you didn't see em. "We were reading a book," Di explained, "and they're very quiet when they aren't running." She repressed a shudder. "Anyhow, we saw them in time to ride out of the ring, if it hadn't been for that shot. That started the stampede." "It wasn't fired by none of us," Tupper remarked. "Captain Brand and your ma warned us all where you was, so we was just ridin' herd on them buffalo to steer 'em away from the camp, although it did seem hard to let so much good bull-beef go to waste. Then come that shot, and the whole bunch lit out lickety-split." "At any rate no harm's done," said Brand, "so we may as well get back to camp-— 'less any of you would like to have a crack at a buffalo for revenge, like." "If I know buffalos, and I think I do," a man named Mott remarked, "that herd won't stop short of sundown. It would be a waste of time to put out after them." Everyone seemed to accept this view of the case and the party rode back to their base together to 156 Diantha's Quest find that a large pack-train had come up and camped beside their wagons. A visitor from this train was talking loudly to Uncle Toby as they drew rein and the old negro was vigorously refusing something that was being pressed upon him. "I wouldn't take it if it was a Virginia ham let alone a buff'lo tongue !'' he shouted. "You go and scramble all them buff'lo down on top o' my little Miss Di and then you-all want us to eat your ole buff'lo tongue." "Don't I tell you we didn't know anyone was on that dumpling?" the visitor said in an aggrieved tone trying to talk him down. "Ain't I seekin' to make you see that it was an accident and you shouldn't harbor ill feelings? We're powerful sorry or we wouldn't be offerin' you the best part of the first buffalo we ever saw." "Take it, Uncle Toby and say *thank you,' " called Di, slipping down from Dot's back and run- ning over to the old man, who retreated before her advance, warding her off with his hands. "Go 'way, chile," he said feebly. "What you comin' after me for? Ain't I been cryin' my eyes out, account I see you killed this very day?" "Nonsense, Uncle Toby," said Di, "I'm not at all killed, but I'm very hungry, so please take the tongue, and be polite about it." "You — ^you mean me to understand you isn't dead?" Unble Toby asked cautiously. Then as the Dots to the Rescue 157 facts of the case got the better of his superstitious fear, he came to himself. "Thank you, sir, for this here buff'lo tongue,*' he said, **my ladies they'll en- joy it as a change from tu'keys and pa'tridges." This flight of fancy, which he considered a duty owed to the pride of his party, having duly impressed the visitor, he went on severely. "But, next time, you want to be more carefuller how you-all let off fire- arms. Supposin' the pusson up on the hill had been just an ordinary pusson instead of a Carter, those buffalos wouldn't 'a' had the same respect for her and would 'a' gone right over the top of her." Then he turned his attention to Di. "You certainly is the beatenes' child for gettin' lost," he said. *T dunno know what Marse Charles is gwine to say about it when I tell him." "I can tell you," declared Di, seeing that Mrs. Carter and Brand were engaging the visitor in con- versation and were explaining how she and Sam had escaped death. "He'll say you'd save your- self a lot of worry if you'd only put your faith in my fairy god-mothers. They'll look out for me." Uncle Toby moved away at this sally, muttering to himself, and Di turned her attention to the group around her mother and Captain Brand, a group which had grown until it included all of the adults in the two trains, Still inwardly shaken by the ordeal of the after- noon she had no desire to hear her experiences told over and over again, so she slipped around one end 158 Diantha's Quest of their wagon to get out of sight just as Sam, moved by a similar impulse, slipped around the other end. The two met and exchanged rather sheepish grins. "Sam," said Di suddenly, "Fm sure I ought to tell you. I may be one of those wonderful Carters Uncle Toby is never tired of talking about. In fact I suppose I am, but Fm no heroine ! I was so scared I was paralyzed. I didn't even think, and, if you hadn't pulled me along, I don't believe it would ever have occurred to me to move." "You didn't see Dots," returned Sam. "You had your eyes on the herd; but you weren't any scareder than I was. It was as much as I could do to pucker my lips to whistle." "Dots is the real heroine of this occasion," said Di finally. "She saw the buffalos and was afraid of them; but she came ahead and did her duty in spite of her fear." "Yes," agreed Sam, "she's a wonder, that little horse. If ever I get to Californy the first gold I find I'm goin' to have a star made of it and set in her bridle to remember this by." Di nodded, then she asked : "If ever you get to California? What do you mean by that, Sam?" "Nothing really," Sam replied, giving a nervous little laugh, "but this — today — made me see I hadn't counted all the chances. I never made allowance for herds of wild buffalos and such." Dots to the Rescue 159 "Oh, well/* said Di lightly, "alFs well that ends well. I don't feel much like talking about it yet, and hearing people *oh,' and 'ah' ; but I suppose, really this is one of those adventures that IVe always en- vied other people, and some day we'll both think it's lots of fun to tell about the time we were stampeded." "Guess you're right 1" Sam nodded agreement. "But the darned things had such a queer smell, Di. It makes me sick now if I think I get a whiff of it. Anyhow there's only one thing I'm really sorry for. It was too bad you should have lost your map." "You needn't be sorry for that," Di told him. "Think of your book. Even if the map had gone I knew it by heart ; but that book — " "Why, I didn't lose It," Sam interrupted aston- ished. "To be sure I don't recall putting it away, but it's here in my pocket, safe and sound." "That's funny!" Di exclaimed, "because the last real thought I remember having was that I must take care of my map — so I swallowed It." "You swallowed It!" Sam cut In, horrified. "I don't call that sensible. Won't It kill you?" "I didn't swallow It down my throat," Di ex- plained laughing with her old-time naturalness. "I stuck it down the neck of my dress. I always used to carry nuts and apples that way when I was little, and it's quite safe. My belt keeps the things from popping out." "Then you'll show it to me some day yet," Sam said. 160 Diantha's Quest And DI answered heartily, "Of course I will I" That night, before she slept, she had a talk with her mother over the principal event of the day. "I know how it frightened you, mama,'* Di said, "and Vm truly sorry; but honestly I don't think I was reckless. That hill looked like a perfectly safe place, and Fd told you where I was going. I seem to be one of those persons who step out of hot water with one foot to step into it with the other." "I haven't blamed you, Di," her mother said, smiling. "It was no more your fault than mine." "I thought you were going to say, *It's no more your fault than having red hair,' " Di chuckled. "You know that was my last horrible adventure. A lucky adventure for me," she added philosophically, run- ning her fingers through the mop of short red curls that already were long enough to be quite becoming. "I don't believe I'll ever be able to make up my mind to let it grow again, it's so comfortable as it is." "It makes you look like a naughty boy," her mother sighed, and Di sat up and pretended indigna- tion. "Now that's unjust!" she exclaimed. "I could bear it if you said it made me look like a good boy, or even just a boy; but when you tack on the naughty — well you make me want to do something to earn the title." "My dear Di," said her mother mock-earnestly, "far be it from me to stimulate such ambitions. I Dots to the Rescue 161 retract! I apologize! It makes you look like a cherub. How does that satisfy you?'* "It's better," Di declared. "A lot better, and now I'll turn over and go to sleep. If only I can get the noise of those thudding hoofs out of my ears!" Her mother looked at her anxiously. She knew Di was high-strung and imaginative, too imaginative, she thought ; so, as she tucked her in and kissed her, she answered lightly. "Oh, pretend they are white sheep jumping a fence and that you're obliged to count them, and you'll soon forget everything else." So Di counted the sheep till the sound of their feet grew soft and they turned into great white but- terflies that carried her on their downy wings into the land of sleep, CHAPTER XIV A STRANGE INDIAN DURING the month that followed the adven- ture with the buffalos the S. Brand caravan moved steadily across the plains. Sam and Di, picking out their position on the precious "Con- gresh'nar' map, could look back and remember many difficulties successfully overcome and recall their experiences at various points along the way. There was Ash Hollow, where it had been neces- sary to chain the wheels of the wagons together to keep them from overturning as they were slowly eased down the steep bank. At the Platte they had found three hundred vehicles ahead of them, wait- ing to be ferried across the river, and only wagons being permitted on the boats, the animals were obliged to swim. Numerous smaller streams had had to be forded, and at some of these the emigrants were forced to block up the bodies of their wagons or, when the water was too deep, to lift the wagon- beds off the wheels and use them as boats to carry their goods to the opposite shore. In the alkali plains they suffered severely from thirst, but they found sage brush to kindle their fires. Here the 162 A Strange Indian 163 trail was fringed with the bones of cattle killed by drinking from the pools of poisonous water, and It required constant vigilance to keep their own animals from destroying themselves. Then they reached the Sweetwater, a stream that twisted and wound in and out across their path. There followed rocky roads that jolted their wagons dangerously, and sandy roads that, although the pull- ing was heavy, eased the bruised feet of their ani- mals. Sometimes the dust was so dense that the lead teams were obscured by it, and again, to compensate the weary travelers, clear days and good going put new life into the little company. There were many small accidents to man and beast, and here Mrs. Car- ter's aid was Invaluable. Her skill in healing was proven on many occasions and the gratitude of the party was shown by the way they followed her direc- tions without protest. She waged a constant war against scurvy, doling out her vinegar or dried apples in as small doses as possible and guarding her meagre store with jealous eyes. A few small trading posts existed along their line of march, but at these they found prices so high that it was thought wiser to buy only those things which they actually needed. At Ft. Laramie, those who had crossed the river, found real houses and a sutler's store where the cost of goods was fairly reasonable; but having grown wise, few added to their load. They had learned the value of keeping their wagons as light as possible. Already some of 164 Diantha's Quest them had been forced to abandon cherished posses- sions along the route, and they had no wish to repeat the experience. But these trading-posts were welcome spots. They formed rough club rooms for the travelers. Here newspapers, months old, might be found, hung over strips of buckskin, to be read but handled as little as possible. Here notices, sent back by those who had hurried forward, would be posted to warn out- distanced friends of the failure of springs or pastur- age; to advise of a good blacksmith or dishonest trader; and, above all, to spread the latest news from the gold fields. This still was the vital interest in the minds of all the emigrants. Gold, gold, gold I Not so much did they talk or dream of what they would do with it after they had found it; that rarely seemed to enter their minds. It was the discovery of the gold that preoccupied them. The weight of it. The color of it. The fact that one stroke of the pick might dis- close untold riches. That was their romance, and was all they cared to dwell upon. In a way they were all misers, gloating over golden treasures they might never see. So at last the S. Brands had reached the foot of the Rocky Mountains and were halted to rest their animals thoroughly before the dreaded march through the stony defiles was begun. The Contin- ental Divide was the next great barrier to their progress, and from the tales that had come back to A Strange Indian 165 them they knew that miles of difficult and danger- ous country lay between them and Salt Lake City, where they meant to stop for the replenishment of their stores before the final journey across the deserts. The Cronin baby was sick again, and Mrs. Carter welcomed the stop, hoping that a day or two of quiet might bring the ailing little body back to a semblance of health. Di had assumed the burden of the other children and was amusing them by telling them stor- ies, to which Sam was listening with even more at- tention than the younger audience to whom they were addressed. Little Peter was most sceptical of the wonderful land of which Di told him and at length burst out into open protest. "I don't believe there is such a place," he declared roundly. "If there was, wouldn't me father be goin' to it, instead of this Calif orny?" "Perhaps he never heard of it," Sam remarked, making a long arm to pull Katie back, who, being only three, was trying to slip away in search of her mother. "It isn't likely he wouldn't know," Peter protested, "him that has a map to Californy where the gold lies hid." "But I have a map too," Di told the youngster with a laugh. "If that is all you need to convince ybii I'll draw it here for you on the ground. We'll 166 Diantha's Quest make It very pretty if you and Annie will bring me little flowers to plant in it.'* By this time the map of fairy land was almost as familiar to Sam as it was to Di He had been over it with her again and again and somehow, to both of them, it had grown to have a close connection with this journey they were taking. To be sure it was not the Congressional Map to which the boy still pinned his faith, but it was capable of endless expansion. The people who inhabited it were very much like those met with every day, but they were not tied down by stupid rules. It was perfectly easy for a fairy to travel a thousand miles in an instant, if one so wished, and yet the way could be made as difficult as the long journey across the western continent. There were no Indians in the country of Di's imagining, but there were giants, who were no less fearsome to the lonely wanderer. Sam found it great fun to translate their own adven- tures into terms of fairy land, but there were times when it almost seemed as if Di believed it all, and Sam could not deny that many things happened in a most unaccountable way. Could it be that fairy god- mothers, who possessed very human attributes after all, were responsible for these strange and unex- pected occurrences? Di said "Yes" positively, and it is to be noted that Sam no longer argued the matter. He watched her intently as she modeled her map for the Cronin children. A Strange Indian 167 "We'll make it so that when we're done it will look like a garden," Di began. "Right here is the Enchanted Forest. We'll stick in lots of green twigs for it. The Sleeping Beauty lives in the mid- dle of it you know, and this twisty ribbon of grass is the brook where Little Sister begged Little Brother not to drink — " "Alkali water, I s'pose," remarked Peter with a bored air. "My mother most never lets me get a good drink any more." "But Little Brother did drink and something very unfortunate happened to him," Di continued. "He was turned into a stag. Remember that and obey. Over here is the Ginger-bread House where Hansel and Gretel lived with the Witch." "That's the kind of a house I'd like to live in," Peter said, interested in spite of himself. "On the edge of the forest is the home of the Three Bears where Goldylocks visited and beyond that is the rocky mount where the giant Cormoran lived. Behind it lies the land of all the giants Jack the Giant Killer slew, including the one who sang Tee, Fi, Fo, Fum ! I smell the blood of an English- man. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.' " Annie and Katy snuggled up to Sam at this alarm- ing verse and he threw an arm about each, delighted to keep them out of mischief so easily. "And by the way, that giant must have been a relation of the one that Jack, of Jack and the Bean- 168 Diantha's Quest stalk, killed. You remember he lived above the clouds and sang the same song?'' "How could anyone live above the clouds?" sniffed Peter. "They'd fall through." "They could so/' said Annie, who was ordinarily much impressed by her big brother's wisdom; but who now had given her allegiance to Di. "Like on top of Mt. Laramie. I saw it with me own two eyes. Clouds half way down it there was, and snow a-top." "Here is a village where lots of people lived. Red Riding-hood's grandmother. The Three Little Pigs Who went to Market. The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe. Dick Whittington and his cat before they went away to London-Town — " "You didn't tell us about all of them," objected Annie. "Give me time," laughed Di. "Just now Fm making a map of Fairy Tale Land. Over here is the Hill of Goblin Gold. It is beyond the Sad Plain of the Bad Fairies and the Witches' Mountain." "But what like of gold is that?" Peter asked. "It's gold that's easy to come by," Di explained, "but sometimes, if you didn't earn it fairly, you wake in the morning to find that you have a purse full of leaves or lumps of coal." "Did ever anybody see a fairy? That's what I want to know," Peter demanded. "Surely," Di answered. "Lots of people. And the elves are the liveliest little things. If you watch the next time it rains you'll see the ruffles of their A Strange Indian 169 skirts as they splash into the puddles with the rain- drops. And they come sliding down the sunbeams and bob out of sight under your very nose. They think it's a fine joke, because youVe too slow to catch them." *I'm none so slow," said Peter bristling. "I'll lay hold of one of them tricksy things some day, and then you'll see !" "If you do, don't let it go till you've won a wish from it," Di cautioned him. "They live on the Emerald Mountain that lies over here. The Ko- bolds have a cave under the hills next to it, and both of those hills are full of treasure." "Gold dust?" asked Annie, "like the men from Calif orny carry in little bags?" "Better than that," Di assured her. "Emeralds and rubies and diamonds. A handful of them is worth all the gold you could load on your father's wagons. Even their flowers are rubies or pearls or amethysts. The leaves are emeralds and the dew- drops are diamonds, so you want to be very careful that one doesn't drop in your eye." "Was you ever in Fairy-land?" Annie asked seri- ously. "Yes," Di answered slowly, "but only once." Sam sat up and looked at her in surprise. "It was the night of the stampede," she went on a serious note coming into her voice. "At first I couldn't sleep. I seemed to be followed by rushing hoofs, and I was hot and restless. So I tried to 170 Diantha's Quest think of sheep, quite clean, woolly sheep, downy to the touch like fleecy blankets and smelling of laven- der. And soon I felt something softer than the softest down and I found that I was resting on the wings of great white butterflies with sapphire eyes. Moths I suppose they were really, because it was night, and they flew up and up and up. I was so close to the stars that I saw that they weren't holes in the sky as I had always thought, but golden nails that held the blue dome in place ; and we flew on and on, and then a soft light began to dawn and the moths fluttered lightly down until I was in Fairy- land at last'' "Di," cried Sam sharply, "wasn't it a dream?" "How should I know?" the girl returned almost passionately. "It seemed as real as — as you. They helped me down from the butterflies, those beautiful little people. They were very kind to me. They played me soft music and offered me fine things to eat and drink, but I remembered that if you want to return to the earth you must take no morsel of fairy food, so I thanked them for their beautiful fruit but did not taste it. I raised the jeweled goblet to my lips but did not sip it, and before cock crow they sent me home." "I'd a-bringed that goblet with me," declared Peter. "I'd 'a' made something out of such a chancy trip." "I did make something out of it," said Di, still serious. "They told me how to know the wishing- ME TELL" A Strange Indian 171 well. It will be shaped like this." She drew in a curious character on her diagram and pointed at it with poised stick; but Sam put out a restraining hand. "That isn't where it is," he said, pointing too. "It's over here." Di looked at him in astonishment. "Why, Sam, I know the map by heart," she pro- tested gently. "Yes, I know; but really you're wrong, Di, this time," Sam insisted. "The wishing-well is over here on the edge of the Enchanted Forest.'* "Oh Sam, you're all twisted," Di answered laughing. "It's in the Sad Plain of the Bad Fairies just at the foot of the Gnomes' Hill." Sam shook his head stubbornly. "All right," Di said, jumping to her feet. "You look after the Cronin children and I'll get the map, just to prove your mistake," and she hurried away. When she returned an Indian had joined the group. He was a friendly savage who had wan- dered into the camp, and Di's fairy tale garden seemed to attract his attention. But when the girl, after a nod to him, seated herself and spread out the map, he at once showed a livelier curiosity. "Me tell!" he grunted, holding out his hand. "There isn't anything you can tell about this," Di replied, smiling. It seemed extremely amusing that an Indian should think he could give her any in- formation about her fairy map. "You give! Me tell!" he insisted, but Di shook 172 Diantha's Quest her head. She was familiar with the tricks of these strange people, who were always ready to make off with anything that took their fancy. "What do you suppose he wants?'* Sam asked The Indian's interest had impressed him more than it had the girl beside him. "It's the colors he's attracted by," Di asserted, referring to the parchment map which was laced to a carved and painted stick with a thong of skin. "He thinks it's a picture of something back east." "Me tell! Me tell!" the Indian repeated, point- ing, and so serious was he that even Di began to wonder if, after all, there was more than mere curi- osity in his insistence. "Give it to him," Sam urged, "and let's see what he'll do with it. He can't get away, you know. A shout would bring the whole camp." For an instant Di hesitated, then she gave the map into the out-stretched, brown hand. The Indian squatted down and spread it out be- fore him. Then taking up a stick he smoothed a place in the sand. "He's spoiling our Fairy-land 1" cried little Annie, aggrieved, but no one heeded her. "Here white man's wigwam," the Indian began. "Many men coming!" He opened and shut his hand rapidly to indicate tens. "White man's heart — it run out. Take — " He stopped for a moment, seemingly at a loss to explain what had been taken, then his hand went to his breast where hung a neck- A Strange Indian 173 lace of bears* claws, and he shook it, murmuring, "Take! Take!" Then he drew a zig-zag line toward the east and held up three fingers. *'Ride! Suns! Fast! Plenty scared!" He jumped to his feet and touched a tree, spreading his arms to indi- cate huge size. After that with a grunt, he held up a hand and two fingers, stooped quickly and made a diagram on the earth to show the position of these trees, and began digging briskly. "Hide !" he said, and again touched the necklace. "White man, he ride back to wigwam!*' His finger retraced the twisting trail, then rising quickly to his feet he cried, "How !" and marched off leaving the map where he had spread it out on the ground. The vivid pantomime was over. Sam and Di looked at each other in astonishment, the disputed situation of the wishing-well quite forgotten. CHAPTER XV THE TRAIL IS BLOCKED WHAT on earth does the man mean?" DI burst out. "There's nothing like that on the map at all." "There is not," Sam agreed. "But Di, he wasn't joshin' us. He believed what he said." "He seemed to," Di acknowledged. "I tell you what I think. I think he's crazy. I suppose there are crazy Indians just as there are crazy white peo- ple." The little Cronins, not interested in this discus- sion, began to show signs of restlessness and a game of puss-in-the-corner was organized for their bene- fit which effectually put a stop to further discussion. But when at last they had been turned over to Seraphy and Clara Bell Tupper who were to take charge of them for the afternoon, Di and Sam re- verted to the subject of the map. ' They spread it out, they looked at it back and front, with no result other than to confirm Di's judgment that the Indian must be crazy. "There's nothing new on this map at all!" Di averred. "Of course, I was too little when I was 174 The Trail is Blocked 175 there to remember anything I saw in Virginia; but the real map that this is a copy of hangs in the nursery at Eastover, and all the Carter children love it and learn to know it by heart. That's why my father made this one for me." "Why didn't he just give you the old one?" Sam asked. "It doesn't belong to him," Di explained, sur- prised at the question. "It's part of the old place, and when Grandpapa dies it will go to my uncle Pinckney and his wife, with all the rest of that prop- erty. Father was the first one married, but really he's only the third son." "I don't see how that makes any difference — " Sam began, but Di cut him short. "It does, in Virginia!" she declared. "Here comes mama. Now we'll hear how the baby is." She furled the map around the stick as she spoke and slipped it down the loose neck of her dress. Then she ran to meet her mother. The baby was better. Unmistakably better. So Mrs. Carter hoped that if they could manage to get it through to Salt Lake where good milk might be obtained for it it would yet survive. On its ac- count it had been decided to move on that afternoon and cross the Divide by moonlight, in view of which fact she was going to lie down for an hour or so and wished Di to do the same. That night, shivering in the dry cold air Di, mounted on Argo, sat, as it seemed to her on the 176 Diantha's Quest edge of the world. Tumbled mountains were on every hand with black gulfs between, but on one side she knew that all the streams ran down to join the Atlantic Ocean, while on the other the Pacific was their goal. Looking toward the west she wondered how the first white man had felt who had stood on that spot. Had he been possessed of the spirit of a Cortes or a Pizzaro? Was he an adventurer for the love of adventure, of country, or of gold? She wondered deeply, and still wondering started the descent toward the western ocean. Now came days of the roughest travel they had yet had and the weather was often against them. They were nearly stopped by a snowstorm on the heights, to plunge from it into valleys of humid heat; but at length they reached the forks. The right road, leading to Sublete's Cut-off, looked as if nine-tenths of the wagons went that way. But the left road was the road to Salt Lake City, and for the sake of the Cronin baby, who, thanks to Mrs. Carter's care was still alive, the S. Brands turned down it. From there on the caravan had a constant strug- gle. The roads and passes were narrow and rocky, dangerous for wagons and hard for man and beast. The Green River, called Ham's Fork, was swollen so that the wagon-beds had to be raised six inches. The Bear River was so high that the ford was im- passable and everything had to be ferried across. The Trail is Blocked 177 Here Sam had an adventure. He was washed from Polka Dots' back while swimming her over the stream. Indeed a tragedy was only averted be- cause he managed to seize Dots' tail, and she landed with him some rods below the ford. "That's another gold star for her bridle," the boy told Di. "Dad's going to give her this one." A day or two before they had reached Ham's Fork they had had their first experience of real thirst. In the valley they were traveling, which was arid and sandy, they had constantly been tempted to leave the trail by the sight of pleasant waters and green banks, sometimes near and sometimes far away. "It's like magic!" were words that came from more than one dry and thirsty throat; but Di and Sam went farther than that. "It is magic !" they said to each other. "There it is, sometimes for hours at a time, just as real as any water. And then in a flash it may be gone, or else it slowly fades away till you see the sand beyond right through it. It is the work of wicked fairies trying to tempt us from the only road." But the mirage left them before they got to the fertile Green River valley, and they did not see it again. Many people were passing them now on pack mules or horses, some even with their burdens on their own backs, for it was necessary to go very slowly with wagons as more than one had been up- 178 * . Dian'tha's Quest set and Its contents spilt. Captain Brand gave it as his opinion that if he had again to cross the contin- ent he would do it with pack animals only, or else he would be content with slow progress and oxen. Odd teams were a frequent sight. Many emi- grants had lost animals and had been forced to ac- cept any substitute they could buy, or else two out- fits had consolidated, after abandoning such wagons as could not be taken further. **Here go the *Ho for Californys' !" someone would cry, and all would turn their heads to see a dun cow, a black ox and a donkey pulling a wooden wagon which had been lightened considerably by sawing a foot of It away and abandoning it. "WeVe bound to get to the land of promise ahead of you yet, even if we get there on two wheels,'* the driver called back to them cheerfully. "The next cut I make Is goin' to be plumb in the middle." The people who had passed and repassed on the long trail had grown friendly and Indulged In many jokes at each other's expense but no one was ever In trouble that help was not freely offered. Indeed Mrs. Carter's name was held In grateful memory In many an outfit where her little medicine box and commonsense had been of assistance. The S. Brands had had rather more than the usual good luck In that they had so far lost few animals. Or perhaps It was their captain's good judgment that was responsible, for he had steadfastly adhered to his policy that slow and sure was the best motto and The Trail Is Blocked 179 had rested his teams whenever he saw they needed it. At all events they now entered upon the last ravine leading down to Salt Lake City In better shape than most outfits that had gone before them. And It was as well, for this six mile caiion became cele- brated as the worst road ever traveled by civilized man. "The trail ahead of us is blocked, Dad!" Young Sam had ridden back to give his father the news. "SourbalPs outfit is hung up and stopping the way. His old Crowbalt dropped dead and, the horse he*s got left is too weak to move the wagon. Better stop where we are. It's steeper beyond here." The wagon train was halted while Captain Brand and several of the other men went forward to see what help must be offered, the road at that point being too narrow to admit of passing. Old Sourball was a well-known character. He belonged to no outfit, but went alone or hung on the skirts of any train which seemed to suit his con- venience. He had not been generous with his neigh- bors when help had been asked of him, so perhaps there was no one on the whole trail to whom they were less eager to offer aid. Stories of his lack of kindliness had been passed from one to another and the man himself had discouraged all proflfers of friendship, so long as he could be Independent of It. Sam and DI, riding down the rough road, anxious to see all that was to be seen, came suddenly upon a heated discussion. 180 Diantha's Quest Sourbairs best horse being dead and the other one obviously unable to draw his wagon and load, Captain Brand had made the natural suggestion that he do as others had done before him ; pack what the horse could carry on its back and abandon his wagon, which they could then push over the side of the ra- vine, where they had already deposited the dead horse, and thus clear the road. The man's answer to this was an outburst of furi- ous accusations. They thought they'd put him out of the way and get what he'd carried so far, did they? Well, they'd find out their mistake! He'd give them twenty-five dollars for the best horse they had, or they could pull him out of the caiion gratis; for his wagon and its contents should never be wasted. Captain Brand, striving to bring him to reason, pointed out that no one among them could spare a horse even though he had offered a fair price in- stead of a niggardly one. The man sneered at this, remarking that the two horses ridden by Sam and Di didn't seem over- worked. Either of them would serve his purpose. Brand, beginning to lose patience, told him sharp- ly that although the ponies were not for sale they were worth more money than he offered. More- over they were mustangs, not broken to harness, and the parties behind could hardly be expected to wait the month or more that would be required to The Trail is Blocked 181 break them. In fact, unpleasant as it was, he must listen to reason. But nothing would move SourbalL There he was in the path and there he meant to stay until someone pulled him out. The S. Brands, now joined by a party from an outfit back of them, drew off to con- sult. To the knowledge of those present such a case had never arisen before, their means of trans- portation being one thing that each party was justi- fied in reserving to their own use, except for the overcoming of some sudden obstacle where mutual aid was freely given. The first thought therefore was to overwhelm the man by force of numbers, push his wagon over the edge and tell him to come on with their outfits or stay as best suited him. But no one was ready to take the responsibility of such action. What was the law in such a case? Had they the right to force a man to destroy valuable goods or to allow them to do so? No one could answer, yet it was obvious that one person could not be permitted to block the way of the oncoming caravans. "We'll go and tell him we'll buy his prairie schooner," one of the newcomers suggested. "If each wagon held up here by this time chips in a dollar it ought to be enough." "See what you can do with the stubborn Dutch- man," said Brand, wiping his brow. "He's too tough for me. I can't move him. But we've a sick 182 Diantha's Quest baby with us that we're wishful to get into Salt Lake City alive." The other man and a friend started off to try their luck, but came back with bulging eyes. "Do you know what's the matter?" the first man said. "He's plumb crazy! He says he's an inven- tor. He*s got the contraption in that wagon and he thinks we're trying to steal it from him. All of us." "An invention!" exclaimed Brand. "What does he suppose we want with his inventions?" "Oh, I don't know," said the second man. "There may be something in it. It's a machine for washing gold without labor. A kind of a wind-mill, or a water-wheel perhaps. I've had ideas myself of something of the sort. Anyhow, we don't get it away from him without bloodshed. He was looking to his pistols when we left him." Now such was the force of the gold dream that all of the men present suddenly took a more lenient view of Sourball's behavior. The S. Brands had no animals that they could spare, but the two strangers who had last interviewed Sourball went back up the trail to return presently with a horse which they said they would lend him to take him into Salt Lake City, and so the road was once more open to travel and just at sunset the S. Brand outfit reached the mouth of the canon and caught their first view of the Mormon town. To them it was almost too beautiful to be real, with its red rOQf§ shining in the mellow light, its The Trail is Blocked 183 green trees, its white walls, and, in the distance, the blue of the great lake and the purples of the far hills. ''If Californy is better than this," said Sam to Di, "I won't need any Fairy-land." CHAPTER XVI AT SALT LAKE CITY BUT Salt Lake City when it was reached proved not quite the dream city it had seemed from a distance. True, the streets were wide, with clear streams running down the middle or through the gutters. The houses were comfortable in com- parison to a tent or wagon, although many of them were only of white-washed logs and the best were made of sun-dried bricks plastered with mud. But the Mormons were gruff and suspicious, and far too keen in their bargaining. Brigham Young, seeing them established in com- fort after many hardships, had refused to let them listen to the lure of gold and set his face, among his people against mining. He judged, and rightly, that they would find more profit nearer home in trading with the hurrying throngs who would pass by them on their way to the gold fields. But in the beginning he did not com- mand honesty; rather he permitted the Mormons to feel that they did no wrong in cheating a Gentile, as they called the Christians, and it was not till the end of the gold rush, when their sharp practice threat- 184 At Salt Lake City 185 ened to lead to serious trouble, that he interfered to warn them against their favorite forms of thievery. Captain Brand had a quantity of cotton goods that he had hoped to trade for various supplies of which they stood in need. So Sam and he had brought these into Salt Lake City confident that they should be worth at least as much, if not indeed considerably more than they had cost them. They were met with pitying smiles. "Too bad you didn't get in about a week ago, mister,'' the store-keeper told them. "I'd a-give' you anything you asked then. But today it's diff'- rent. Prices are down. I've word that my agent at the Bay is shippin' me in a full line of calicos. A vessel has just come round the Horn with a cargo of them." And so it happened to all the other travelers. Goods that they wished to barter had shrunken in value till they were worth little or nothing. Sheet- ing, spades and shovels, which they had in abund- ance, the Mormons would hardly take at any price, at the same time warning the emigrants, with pre- tended good-will, that they must not burden them- selves with anything of weight, as they would be forced to abandon all excess in crossing the desert. "Gosh ding it!" Honest Tupper said, meeting the Brands after they had made their disappointing bargains at the best figures they could. "They're askin' Cronin a dollar a gallon for milk for his baby, 186 Diantha's Quest and they tell him it ain't no good to carry that little load of friction matches he's got to the coast, ac- count of a ship that's in with all the matches in the world aboard it. But will they give him anything for his matches? No sir-ree, they won't. Nor me for my heavy wagon. They'll trade me a light one, worth no more than half as much for it, if I'll throw in a team and all my coffee. And they say I'd better get rid of my flour because it will be so full of bugs before we're out of the Humboldt Sink that no one will buy it off me." "I've got more than a-plenty of nails and tacks," another man contributed, "but they don't want them. It seems a ship-load arrived three weeks ago — " "It appears to me a whole fleet must 'a' come along loaded with all we happen to be carryin'," Captain Brand remarked sceptically, "but we're in their power. We got to take what they hand out to us I guess." "Let's pass the word around to hold off from tradin' as much as possible," Tupper said. "If we ain't too eager — if they think we're goin' by with- out contributin' to the Mormons — they'll maybe ease up a trifle." "They can't hold us up any worse than they are doing," a third man put in. "Asked me seventy- five cents for a pound of meat. Off the neck of an old steer, I reckon it must have been, 'cause it was only fit to make heels for my boots." This brought a wry smile from the other victims At Salt Lake City 187 of the Mormon traders and they separated to spread their stories and the proposed plan. Sam went at once to find the Carters who were camped close to the Cronins in order that Mrs. Carter could over- see the sick baby. "Little Tim's a great deal better!" Di cried out happily. "He's very cunning when he's well, and mama says all that he needs is proper food." "Where is your mother?" Sam asked. "Has she tried to do any trading here yet?" "Has she?" Di exclaimed. "I should rather think she has ! Uncle Toby and she are fairly sick about it. Do you know, Sam, even with the sixty dollars for my hair we won't have enough to get our sup- plies here. Uncle Toby's out now trying to find out what he could trade Snowflake and Argo for." "Sell Snowflake and Argo !" For a moment Sam stood aghast. "Why Di, you'll never get through the Sink without them ! They say that the sand is up to the horses' barrels." "We'll get through if we have to pack Sugar and Salt and walk!" Di declared setting her lips firmly. "You can always do a thing if you have to." "Is there a woman here that does doctorin'?" The children turned at the words to see a man and woman, both dressed in dust-cojored brown jeans which seemed to match their lustreless hair and sun-dried skins, who had come up to them noise- lessly. "There's a lady here," Sam bristled, his antagon- 188 Dian-tha's Quest ism to these Mormons needing little to make it active. "Do you wish to see my mother?" Di asked. "Yes," said the man, "I suppose we do. We got a sick child." The woman said nothing but she turned her eyes to Di with an appeal in them and threw back the folds of a shawl she carried to reveal a poor, wiz- ened little baby. "Mercy!" cried Di, "it is sick, isn't it? Til call mother. She's with the Cronin baby now, but it's a great deal better and she won't mind leaving it." Di having been shocked by the baby's appearance, Mrs. Carter came hurrying across without delay and held out her arms for the poor little atom. The mother made a move to surrender it to her, but her husband stopped her. "I always make my bargains the first off," he said. "So, before you touch the girl, what's your charge for doctoring? And what do you ask for your drugs? Not that there's any use of carryin' them to the gold fields, for a ship has just arrived in from 'round the Horn with a cargo of drugs, so you sec you can't expect fancy prices there, can you?" "I'm not in the habit of selling my help !" Mrs. Carter said icily, drawing back at once. "I give it freely to those who need it." The man leered at her, unable to credit her simple words. "I've heard that sort of talk before," he sneered. At Salt Lake City 189 "You Gentiles are so generous, ain't you? If you don't ask pay for your help, what do you ask for your drugs then ? I'm not fool enough to think you work without a wage." "Mis' Carter," Sam interrupted, as she was about to speak, "accordin' to these people there's ship- loads of drugs and ship-loads of calicos and ship- loads of matches and everything else we have to sell; but everything they have to sell is mighty scarce and dear. Now you don't sell your help nor your drugs, neither, to your friends; but then your friends don't come here insultin' you. I don't see that you're beholden to these — ." "Their baby's sick, Sam," Mrs. Carter spoke gently. "Yes'm," said Sam, "I know it is; and I ain't sug- gestin' that you leave it to die nor nothin' like that. Only I do think if you help them, these Mormons had ought to help you. You'll never get to Cali- forny without Snowflake. The other mules wont be able to pull the wagon through the desert and keep up with the train. Honest to goodness. Mis' Carter, you'd ought to make a bargain that if you tell them what to do for the child they'll buy your supplies for you. They can get all you need for t'he money you have to spend, if they want to." This was a very long speech for Sam to make, but both Mrs. Carter and Di recognized the force of his idea. Undoubtedly there were two prices current,, one for Mormons and one for the emi- 190 Diantha's Quest grants. If the Carter supplies could be bought at the Mormon rate it was more than possible that their money would secure all they needed and they could save their animals. *'ril not do any buying for Gentiles!" the man snarled, but Mrs. Carter had been convinced by Sam's reasoning and at once turned away, shrugging her shoulders. "That is for you to decide," she said calmly. "It is the only price you can pay me for doctoring your baby." The woman meanwhile was tugging at the man's sleeve. "You'll not let the child die," she whispered. "It's your first-born." He looked down at the shrunken face on her arm almost resentfully. "Most like she was only born to die," he said. "Why couldn't we have hearty children like my brother's? Come away." "Oh, mother could cure it," Di told the woman pityingly. "The Cronin baby was almost as sick as this, and you wouldn't know him today. He's quite pretty." The woman did not answer her but turned again to the man. "It'll not be held in your favor if you let her die," she reminded him. "Children are as important in the sight of the Church as all your crops and herds !" "I'll not traffic with Gentiles!" the man said At Salt Lake City 191 surlily. "IVe no belief they can do aught for the babe." "There's no need for you to move in the matter," his wife said, with suppressed eagerness. "I can take their money and do their trading for them." "And think you there will be no questions asked as to how you came by so much wealth?" her hus- band retorted, not yet ready to give his consent. "Have I not seven sisters," his wife returned. "If each buys a part, no one will suspect aught, and," she added in a lower tone, "t'will be a cheap doctor's bill for us." Whether this last was the argument that carried the day cannot be said. The man gave his permis- sion grudgingly, and the woman took Mrs. Carter's lists and what money she dared spend. Di and Sam left them deep in consultation over the baby while they went off to seek Uncle Toby and tell him it was no longer necessary to sell his pet, Snowflake. "You know, Sam," said Di, quite gravely, "I begin to think my fairy god-mother sent you to us. We certainly would never have gotten to California without you." "Shucks!" said Sam, much embarrassed. "I haven't done nothin' — anything I mean. These Mormons are skinnin* the life out of everyone who rides by in a prairie schooner. It just did me good to have somethin' to sell 'em that they had to have. If I hadn't known how soft your ma was over babies rd a-tried to make 'em pay somethin' to boot." 192 Diantha's Quest "She'd never have taken it," Di declared, "and if they hadn't given in she would have. I know mother. She could never in the world have kept her hands off that poor, miserable, little creature." CHAPTER XVII IN THE witches' MOUNTAINS THROUGH the Mormon woman the Carters managed to get a scanty supply of needful pro- visions but even with her help their money did not seem to go very far, although in the end they found themselves possessed of enough to carry them into California if they suffered no serious delays. So it was with fairly light hearts that they re- sumed their journey. The severest test was still be- fore them, but they faced it bravely. The first day was uneventful, the second brought them to the ferry at the Weber River. A big out- fit known as the "We're Here's" was ahead of them, and by the time each wagon had paid its four dollar fee and been ferried across, the day was half done. "These ferrymen along the route must be gettin' rich," Sam said to Di, who replied ruefully: "Everyone seems bent upon making money out of us poor emigrants." "Do you remember what day it will be day after tomorrow?" the boy asked of a sudden, and then answered his own question. "The Fourth of July, and it won't be much like it is at home, will it?" 193 194 Diantha's Quest **I don't know anything about Fourth of July cel- ebrations," Di acknowledged. "You see, ever since I was very little, we've been off somewhere away from settlements, to be as near papa as we could." "You're mighty fond of your pa, ain't you?" Sam said unexpectedly. "Fond of him!" For once Di was at a loss to express herself. "Why, Sam, I love him better than anything on earth!" "Better than you love your mother?" the boy asked. Di thought for a moment and when she spoke it was as if she were reasoning out loud. "If I am it is very unjust," she said, '^because mama is the best person in the world. She takes care of all of us. She looks after our health, and our clothes, and all the unpleasant things. And she's taught me most of my lessons, because I haven't ever lived near a school ; but papa has taught me things, too. He taught me to ride and to swim a little and he wanted to teach me to shoot, only I didn't like the noise. But those aren't the things I mean. It was papa who told me all the old fairy tales and made me see things in my mind. He — he made the whole world more beautiful, Sam. You can't help loving a person who does that for you, can you?" And Sam, conscious that his little companion had done that very thing for him, nodded understand- ingly. In the Witches' Mountains 195 The "WeVe Heres" and the "S. Brands" joined forces to celebrate the Fourth of July. An orator was selected and a horn was blown to assemble his audience. But just as the speaker mounted a feed- box to address the assemblage who should come along the trail but Sourball. **He's found another horse as thin as old Crow- bait/' Captain Brand said, astonished, and would have let the man go by, but the orator of the day, knowing nothing of the recent controversy, thought otherwise. " 'Light, friend, and join our celebration," he said. "Independence Day comes but once a year, and all good Americans ought to hear the eagle flap its wings and scream!" Sourball turned a suspicious face toward the man. "So!" he mumbled. "And while Fm listening to you someone will be pokin* into my wagon, nicht wahr?*' With which gracious remark he pushed on past them as rapidly as he could. The little Cronins saw something very funny in this and set up a shout of laughter; but Mrs. Carter looked grave. "That man is one of the tragedies of the trail," she remarked to Di. "Think of the loneliness of all the miles past and to come." "I don't like to think of it," said Di with a shiver, "and anyway it's his own fault. Everyone would be friendly if he'd only let them." 196 Dian-tha's Quest "Of course," Mrs. Carter agreed, *but it is his mind I fear for." Just here she was interrupted, the oration being given a grand send-off by the WeVe Heres who used, with telling effect, a small cannon they had brought for defensive purposes. The discourse, on the ac- customed lines, was vastly appreciated but it is pos- sible that Sam and Peter Cronin, and indeed some of the young men, liked the excuse for a little noise more than anything else. Peter had a horn and Sam and the men pistols, which were discharged to punc- tuate the discourse. "Wasn't it fine ?" Sam asked Di when it was over, but Di disagreed. "Did you notice the Indians?" she inquired, for as usual the camp had attracted Indian visitors. "I felt the way they did. They vanished at the first shot of the cannon. I stayed, but it was only be- cause I had no place to run to." "Goodness sakes!" cried young Peter Cronin. "You don't mind a nice little cannon like that? I cannot think it of you." Which remark brought roars of laughter from its hearers. 'There's nothin' the matter with this Fourth of July except the cold," Seraphy Tupper said. "Not that I mind it. It gives me the chance to wear my velvet pelisse." "The cold rids us of skeeters," her sister Ruth put in. "If ever I cross the plains again I'll have a skeeter net if I have nothin' else." In the Witches' Mountains 197 "Will you wear it all the time?'' Di asked. "You'll look like a bride if you do." "It wouldn't be such a bad idea, though," Melindy conceded. "A veil in front of my beaver bonnet would ha' kept me from havin' a skin as speckled as a guinea-hen's egg." "Are we goin' to lay off all day, Sam?" Seraphy inquired. "Seems to me we'll never get to Californy at this rate. I was talkin' to a young feller who passed us on horseback yesterday. The J. C. Richy Company, I think they were called. They aimed to get there in about thirty days from now." "That's the way Dad and I would go if we had to do it again," Sam said. "No wagons to hold you back. But o' course there's lots of arguments against it. For one thing you've got no roof but the sky, no matter what the weather is — " "Are we goin' on today, Perfessor?" Seraphy cut in. "Not that I'd go for to interrup' your lecture; but ma wants to know on account of the cookin'. We finished off our last batch of biscuits by clappin' them in the wagon-box only half done but terrible hot, and ma don't hold with that way o' cookin'. She 'lows it's unhealthy." "We're a-goin' on," Sam said. "Dad thought it was best, though he didn't insist, scein' that this is a legal holiday; but all the others voted to push ahead, so it's settled. Your pa must know it." . "Yes — , but ma ain't no clairy-voy-ant like they have at the circus," Seraphy laughed. "Pa's idea 198 Diantha's Quest of the time to tell us we're movin' is when he cracks his whip at the mules.'' The train soon got under way again but progress was slow. They struck steep roads where it was necessary to rope each wagon and ease it down to avoid upsets. In other places the dust reached their boot-tops and the number of dead animals they passed steadily increased. The days were unbear- ably hot, the nights very cold, blankets and wagon- tops being covered with frost, and the snow-capped mountains on their left seemed to march with them, for they could not leave them behind. In places water was scarce. Indeed In one camp they would have had none had it not been for Uncle Toby, who skimmed three inches of frog slime from a pool and found tolerable water beneath. Now, for the first time, the S. Brands had reason to be seriously anxious about their animals, who grew bony and weak as the grass thinned and dried up. The Indians also gave greater occasion for alarm. Their thefts were bolder, and word was sent back that a wagon train ahead had been attacked, horses stolen and men wounded. So the S. Brands oiled their guns and placed them in readiness; but no at- tack came. "That's the last of our sugar. Miss Di," Uncle Toby announced one morning as Di helped herself to sugar for her pony. "Then I'll save my share for Argo," Di returned promptly; but she looked grave as she turned away. In the Witches' Mountains 199 Were all their calculations as much out as this? Sam who rode up on Dots just them, met her with an equally grave face. "The Cronins lost four horses last night," he said. "They'll have to leave one wagon behind, that's certain." "Did the Indians get them?" Di asked. "No," Sam replied, "they just petered out. Died in their sleep, I guess. Anyhow they're stiff now, and the Cronins are sortin' out what they can do without." Inwardly Di wondered if they were leaving sugar behind them, but she was too proud to beg and she knew that her mother had no money to waste on that luxury, so she held her peace. "This is an awful place," Sam said disconsolately, digging up the sand with his toe. "Nothin' but sage brush and prickly pear, and prickly pear and sage brush! Dad says we're to travel at night now to save the beasts, an' there's no real grass this side the Sink." "Everything is brown and gloomy," Di agreed. "I think this must be the Sad Plain of the Bad Fairies, Sam, in which case the mountains they're always fussing about must be the Witches' Moun- tains, and on the other side of them we'll find Fairy- land." "You talk as if we were traveling through your map," Sam grunted, "whereas it is mine we're fol- lowing. The real Congresh'nal map !" 200 Diantha's Quest "How do you know?" Di demanded. " We may be lost! People on quests 'most always are, sooner or later." "Well, if it is your map we ought soon to come to the Wishing-well," Sam suggested. "And if we do," Di warned him, "you must men- tion it to no one. And you must be sure to have the right wish ready, because it is the first wish you get and no other." "Huh," said Sam, "there won't be any chance of mistake about my wish. I know what I want right enough! It's — ." "Don't tell me," Di cut in, in alarm. "It must be a secret wish. You'll never get it if you tell what it is." "Oh, I 'low I can keep it to myself," Sam laughed, "but 'spose I find the well and you don't? Mayn't I tell you where it is?" Di considered this point seriously for a moment. "No," she said, decidedly at last, "I'm afraid you mustn't You see, in fairy tales, things have such a way of vanishing if you speak." "Like the mirage?" Sam suggested. "Exactly," Di agreed, "but I'll tell you what we can do. We can point. I don't see how that could do any harm." The road now lay up and down sandy bluffs where the teams sank in to a depth of almost two feet. The S. Brands lost no more horses, but they constantly saw dead animals by the road side and the neces- In the Witches' Mountains 201 sity of pressing forward made it impossible to spare their own as they would have wished. Indeed the way seemed a succession of difficulties well-nigh impossible to surmount. They passed the Sixteen-mile Desert to find that there was no grass on the far side, and here befell a most serious occurrence. A number of horses, in- cluding Argo, had been turned out to graze in charge of an old man named Silas Warner, who allowed himself to drop asleep. The hungry animals wan- dered back over the trail in a vain search for their former range, and were never recovered. Di was greatly distressed at the loss of Argo, but took some comfort out of the fact that being an Indian pony and used to shifting for himself, there was a chance that he might repass the desert and escape with his life. The other animals were looked on as good as dead, and, to meet this difficulty, heavy articles and warm clothing were thrown away, wagons cut down or abandoned, and once more the S. Brands trailed on. All cattle now had to be constantly watched or tied to the wagons when camp was made. They would lie down for two or three hours, then start up and try to go back, as Argo and the others had done, to a land of plenty. Moreover Mrs. Carter found her hands full. Scurvy had broken out here and there, and once more little Tim Cronin was very ill. Most of her 202 Diantha's Quest time was spent with him, and Di rode in the wagon alone. The load was very light now and the white mules were doing splendidly; but she missed Argo and her rides ahead of the wagon-train and she hated the long hot days in camp. The sixty-five mile desert still lay before them. Kegs had to be filled with water for its passage and it was decided to graze the cattle once more and to make such hay as they could at the first likely spot. Mrs. Carter, returning to her own wagon at day- break for a cup of coffee, was anxiously questioned by Di about the baby whose frail little life had be- come dear to them all; but her mother had nothing very encouraging to say. "Timmy is very sick, Di dear," she told her. *'Very sick indeed. He's never been as ill as this before. I can't quite give up hope, but I don't know — I don't know." Mrs. Carter drank her coffee and returned to stay with Mrs. Cronin, and a little later Di sprang out and joined the Tupper girls who were plodding be- side their wagon. "Poor little Timmy Cronin," said Clara Bell, "have you seen him, Di? He's all eyes. I think even your ma can't save him this time." Just then Annie Cronin, crying bitterly, came run- ning toward them through the dust and slipped her hand in Di's. "Timmy's dyin," she sobbed. "They said I was In the Witches' Mountains 203 to go to you. They won*t let me stay with him, and he's my own baby brother, that he is/' The Tupper girls exchanged pitying glances. "He's goin'," they whispered. "Only magic can save him now.'* Di's heart seemed to stand still with the sadness of it. That tiny baby, for whose life they had all helped to fight, would be left behind, one more little lonely mound in the vast wilderness. A sob rose in her throat, but she did not wish Annie to see her cry. "Take care of Annie for a little," she muttered to Seraphy, and dashed ahead of the slowly moving wagons. She must have a few minutes to pull her- self together. Death had never come into her life before and she saw only the horror of it. As she distanced the dust she met Sam on Polka Dots, swinging his hat violently to attract her at- tention. "Hop up behind me!" he called excitedly. His manner took Di out of herself. There was some- thing that had stirred Sam to the depths, that was evident, and Di obeyed him unhesitatingly. "What is it?" she asked, when she was safely mounted, and they were moving swiftly toward the summit of the next rise. "Don't ask no questions," said Sam sternly. ^Tou'll see for yourself." And when the summit was reached he reined in Dots in silence and pointed. Below them, marked in black and green on the 204 Diantha's Quest grey plain, was the cabalistic figure Di had seen in her dream. A small and perfectly circular pool formed the middle. Burnt wagons assembled at its sides marked the arms of a cross and a ring of bushes made the outer circle. The figure was complete and, seen from the eminence on which they stood, unmistak- able. "It's the Wishing-well !" she murmured. Sam paused for only a moment, then he spurred Dots on again and when the side of the pool was reached Di slipped from the pony's back and leaned over the water. "Nothing will save Timmy but magic," seemed to ring in her ears and she took a sip of the water and made a wish, throwing a tiny pebble into the pool as she did so. Then she turned a face of woe to Sam and said. "I wished another wish — and now perhaps I'll never, never find my father after all." "Not find your father!" Sam gasped, forgetting everything else at the sight of such grief where he had expected only joy. "What do you mean, Di?" "That was my greatest wish," Di sobbed. "I want him more than anything in the world and I some- how believed that if I could find a wishing-well I was bound to find him, too. But when you brought me to the well there was something else I was forced to wish. And now I feel as if I'd thrown away my chance to find papa." She flung hersielf on the In the Witches' Mountains 205 ground, sobbing, and Sam looked at her helplessly, quite unable to attempt any comfort. "Do you mean you don't know where your father IS?" he demanded at last, trying with knit brows to master the situation. "No," sobbed Di, "we don't know at all. He went on a trapping and exploring expedition. We heard from him once after they had happened to cross the mountains into California. He sent money and a long letter then; but that was almost two years ago. About a year later came the map. Noth- ing else. So mother thought there was something wrong and we decided to try to hunt for him. And now I've given him up ! I've deserted him." "Nonsense!" said Sam, sturdily. "You've not given him up. You'll just have to hunt for him harder than ever, that's all." But Di was not to be comforted. She did not often lose her self-control, but when she did it was hard for her to regain it and Sam watched her in sympathy and anxiety. Suddenly a thought came to him. His face lit up and he went over to the pool and, raising some water in his hand as he had seen Di do, he too registered a wish. Then, with a look of satisfaction, he returned to Di. "Here come the wagons," he said. "You won't want all the people to find you cryin'." "I don't care," Di returned. "They'll only think it's because of Timmy." 206 DIantha's Quest "What's the matter?" asked Sam with a start. "Is he worse?" "He was," Di answered. "I hope he's better now." And Sam, divining what the need was that had forced Di to abandon the wish of her heart, rejoiced at the inspiration that had come to him to set the matter right. CHAPTER XVIII NEWS OF MR. CARTER WHATEVER the cause may have been there was no doubt that little Timmy Cronin had taken a turn for the better. The S. Brand outfit reached the pool in excellent spirits. The baby had a hold on the hearts of everyone and the rough men, whose toil might have made them indif- ferent to the fortunes of this tiny bit of humanity, were as anxious for his welfare as the women in the party. So, when Mrs. Carter let it be known that her patient was improving^, the fatigues of the day were forgotten for a time in the feeling of elation that seized them all. It seemed to many that the success of their caravan would be worth less to them if they could not keep life in the smallest mem- ber of the band. Just before she lay down in her wagon to take a much needed rest after her long vigil, Mrs. Car- ter had a moment with Diantha. "He's truly better, mama?" Di asked anxiously. "Decidedly!'* her mother answered. "Babies, of course, recover very quickly when once they start to improve, but somehow, with Timmy it seemed al- 207 208 Diantha's Quest most a miracle. He lay in my arms, scarcely breath- ing, and then, as I watched him with no hope left, he opened his eyes and I could feel the vitality re- turning to his frail little body. He*s still sick, but I think he will recover now." Di's nerves were all on edge and she wanted to be alone. Privacy was impossible in the camp, so she walked back up the trail, full of her own thoughts and anxious to be out of sight and hearing of the busy gathering. She was glad, of course, that Timmy was better. It would have been too sad if her sacrifice had been for naught, but that her wish had come true so quickly brought a sharp pang of regret that she could not stifle. It seemed to prove that, had she expressed the desire nearest her own heart, the father she longed to see might have been with her at that moment. "At any rate I should at least have had news of him by this time," she told herself. Scarcely thinking what she was doing, Diantha had left the trail and seated herself on a huge boulder overlooking the road. Here the jingle of an approaching pack-train interrupted her thoughts and she idly watched a line of horses following each other up the steep grade. Presently she was sur- prised to see a mounted man detach himself from his fellows and ride toward her. "Anything wrong?" he asked as he reached her side. News of Mr. Carter 209 There was more than a hint of anxiety in the question, which was wholly natural. The Humboldt Desert, through which they traveled, had been the scene of many disasters, and would see more. It was quite within the bounds of possibility that an entire party might perish before aid reached them. Di understood this perfectly and hastened to reas- sure her questioner. "No, there's nothing wrong,'' she said, rising. "The rest of the party are on ahead." "Seeing you alone this way I was wondering," the man explained, and then, with a quizzical glance at the girl, "weren't you the little miss who gave our outfit her coffee a while back?" "Oh, yes 1" Di exclaimed, realizing now why the face before her had seemed so familiar. "You're — you're — ." "I'm J. B. Smith," he cut in. "I told you most likely we'd catch up with your outfit again." "I remember," Di replied, brightening. "You promised mama you'd try to think where you'd heard of my father." "It came back to me, all right," Mr. Smith went on. "Just as I said it would, and I did write it down, though there's no chance that I'd forget it now. Well then, there was a Captain Carter who got past the Apaches and crossed into California down south near the Santa Catalina mission. Do you suppose that could have been your father?" "I certainly think it was," Di responded, with 210 Diantha's Quest growing excitement at this news. "We had a letter from him posted at San Diego which is in southern California." "Then I guess there's no doubt of it," Mr. Smith continued. "If you had just mentioned Captain Car- ter I would have recollected at once; but I don't see how they came to let a letter get through." "I don't understand," Di puckered her brow. "Who could keep it from us?" "The Mexicans," her companion replied. "You see that was before the war was ended, and they held your pa one day because he was an American spy and another because he was a spy from old Spain." "You mean my father was a prisoner!" Di spoke excitedly. "Sure !" said the man. "Didn't he say anything about that?" "No," answered Di, "he didn't. He only wrote that he couldn't come back to us for the present. So he sent us money — now I remember — he said, *by the hand of a friend who was going to Panama from the Port of San Diego'. But papa was never a spy." "Of course not," J. B. Smith agreed, "but he broke into the country at a bad time. They didn't know which they hated worse about then, Ameri- cans or Spaniards." "But father had nothing to do with Spaniards," Di protested. "He spoke Spanish, didn't he?" Smith asked. News of Mr. Carter 211 "Yes," said Di. "At one time he did most of his hunting and trading in New Mexico." "Well," Smith went on, "this is what happened. He and a small party of men came into California by accident, as you might say. They'd run out of food and nearly died of thirst in the desert, but they got there alive. At first they were treated all right enough, if not cordially, but one night they inter- ferred in an affair that made them unpopular with the authorities." "Yes," said Di, "go on." "There was a very rich hidalgo, a ranchero of course, who owned miles of land in the neighborhood of the San Gabriel Mission. He was suspected of having more fondness for Spain than for the Mexi- can Republic and this did not make him a favorite with the government. So they planned to seize his only son, who was on a visit to San Diego, and hold him for a ransom." "But how could the government do a thing like that?" Di demanded. "Their government did things without bothering about rights and wrongs," Smith declared, shrug- ging his shoulders. "Anyhow, they prepared an am- bush for the young man. He walked into it, and your father and his men sailed in and rescued him, spoiling all their plans." "That's just the sort of thing my father would do!" declared Di with flashing eyes. "Well, that fixed them, didn't it?" 212 Diantha's Quest *'No, it fixed him** Smith answered grimly. "The authorities vowed he was a brigand who had waylaid the young man; that he was a spy — ^just whose spy changed from day to day — planning to carry the young caballero out of the country and mulct his father of a fortune. And the only thing that kept them from executing your pa out of hand was the young man himself." "Of course," said Di with a sigh of relief, "he knew who had really attacked him." "He did," Smith continued, "but remember, he had to fight a government, which was none too fond of him already. However the young gentleman sent for his father, who saw through the whole crafty business at once and took the only way pos- sible to fight it. He called in the Church!" "The Church !" Di was puzzled. "The Roman Catholic Church," Smith explained. "Though the hidalgo wasn't popular with the gov- erment and the military he was with the Church. It had no cause to complain of his generosity, and if your father hadn't been a heretic — that's a Protest- ant — ^there'd have been no further trouble. Even as it was he and his men were finally paroled in the custody of the hidalgo, with the understanding that they would not leave the country. He was still on the hidalgo's rancho, Buenos Aguas, when I heard this story." "Heard this story?" Di echoed in surprise. "Didn't you see my father?" News of Mr. Carter 213 "No," Mr. Smith explained. "I had the tale from a rough, bragging sort of ne'er-do-well. It was just after gold was found at Sutter's saw-mill, and I got the fever as everybody else did. I went down to the Bay to outfit before going up to the diggings, and it was there I ran into this man I'm telling you about. The town was pretty empty, but there were enough people left to keep a game going in almost every shack. It seemed as if finding gold had set everybody gambling in one way or another. "Well, I was sitting down one evening watching four fellows playing cards. One of them was this man I spoke of and he was losing everything he had. When his last cent was apparently gone he opened a package that was all done up for the express com- pany and took out a lot more money. But his luck didn't change and pretty soon he was cleaned out entirely. "I was tired by this time and started off to turn in for the night, when this hard-luck party followed me out and began to beg me to grub-stake him to the mines. Now a man who gambles with the money he has put by for his wife and children isn't one to be trusted, so I refused him, flat. But he wouldn't let mc alone. He promised to pay me back even if he didn't make a strike. Said he had a good job down in the south and told me about the Buenos Aguas Rancho. He related this story of Captain Carter, exphimlng that he had been sent up north 214 DIantha's Quest on an errand but didn't mean to go back till he'd made his pile. **To tell the truth I didn't believe a word of it, but now that I've met you and your mother I think may- be there's something in it. Anyway I didn't stake him. He wasn't my kind of a man." "But who was he?" Di asked. "He was one of your father's trappers," Smith explained. "I guess he told me everything that had ever happened to him except his name. He seemed a little shy about that." "Why should he be?" Di asked curiously. "He wasn't a slave. Now that the war has ended and California belongs to the United States, they aren't on parole any more, are they?" "No," Smith agreed, "I s'pose no one could make him go back. But he may have had his own reasons. At any rate, Missy, that's all I know. I've written it all out and it's in one of my alforjas. I'll leave the paper for your mother as I go by." "Aren't you going to make a stop here?" Di asked, disappointed. "No," said Smith. "I'll have to hustle along to catch up as it is, and I've told you all I know. Your father was at the Buenos Aguas Rancho a little over a year ago. If he hasn't lit out for the diggings like the rest of us, he's there yet, most likely." "Mother's asleep," DI told him. "She's been nursing a sick baby and needs the rest badly. I'd News of Mr. Carter 21S hate to wake her unless there's something else you can think of/' *'If you want to ask me anything a letter will al- ways reach me at Sutter's Fort. J. B. Smith's the name. Don't forget the J. B. It's no use to disturb Mrs. Carter, that's all I know of the matter. I'll drop the paper for her at the camp." Smith waved his hat and his horse loped off, leav- ing a thick trail of dust behind, while Di sat down to consider this news. To her mind it was very good. It located her father at least six months or more later than their last previous word of him. In fact it seemed that the map must have been sent while her father was at the rancho. What puzzled her now was why no letter had ac- companied the map. Surely if he could send the one he could send the other. The only conclusion she could come to was that he had written and the letter had miscarried. And of course it was always possible that other letters had arrived since they had left the East. But now she felt that they had a real starting- point from which to search for him, and she took her way back to camp greatly cheered. Sam, who had been wondering where she was, came to meet her and read her face at a glance. "Someone has told you the baby's better!" he ex- claimed. 216 DIantha's Quest "Yes," said DI, "and oh, Sam, another splendid thing has happened! I've had good news of father!" She poured out her tale to an accompaniment of whistling. Sam wasn't going to run any risk of breaking the charm of the magic well by saying a word, but It was all he could do to contain himself, so he had recourse to his usual safety valve. "That's right!" cried DI. "Whistle, Sam, whistle! Make up something glad, and triumphant and thankful, like a bird that sees the sun rise on a beau- tiful day In Spring. I wish I could do It for myself, but I've only words to do it with, and they aren't enough." So the boy whistled joyously for his friend, with never a regretful note for the ambitions he had re- llnqulshed when he made his unselfish wish. CHAPTER XIX SOURBALL IN TROUBLE THE J. B. Smith pack train had told the S. Brands of a meadow about thirty-five miles dis- tant where they could make hay, but warned them that they would not see a spear of grass till they got there, a prediction which they found to have been literally true, when finally they reached their goal. The camp was made and the men went hay mak- ing; but as the meadow was marshy and it was nec- essary to carry the grass about a mile through water three feet deep, Uncle Toby was too old for the work and Mrs. Carter's thin purse was opened to pay an Indian for bringing forage for the mules. "We will get to California penniless!" she ex- claimed with a worn smile. "Never mind so long as we get there," said Di. "I never wanted to find gold before, but now I mean to dig enough to take us to papa." "Wonderful miners we'd make," Mrs. Carter laughed bravely, "but oh, Di, it's something to know where he was a year ago, isn't it?" They started again in the cool of the evening 217 218 Diantha's Quest and, coming to a slough, took in a fresh supply of water but the number of deserted wagons increased as they progressed and it was noticeable that their owners no longer wasted energy in destroying what they left behind. Indeed death camps were a com- mon sight and were avoided for fear of pestilence. The abandoned wagons, with their dead animals be- side them, told all too plainly that one more party had been forced to press onward carrying all their possessions on their backs. Even the S. Brands were not to escape this entire- ly. Step by step along the way one after another had thrown out cherished treasures. Those who had had two wagons had been reduced to one. The Cronins had been loaned one of the Carters' mules to enable them to keep going at all. The Tupper's riding horses had taken their place in teams, too broken spirited to protest. At one point there was a dead animal for every hundred yards of road, and a hundred thousand dollars would not have paid for the valuables which lay abandoned within twenty miles. Such was the dreaded Humboldt Sink. "It's like a horrid dream," Di sighed. "We have a great deal to be thankful for," her mother reminded her. "We're all alive and fairly well, even little Tim Cronin." "Dad and I are goin' to leave our wagon at the next camp," Sam announced, "there's just a Sourball in Trouble 219 chance, if we do, that the horses will live to get over the mountains/' "We'll soon be nothing but a pack-train," Mrs. Carter declared, forcing a smile. "We'll soon be in California," Di said sturdily. "That's the way to talk," Sam cried. "In this old desert it doesn't seem as if we were getting any- where; but most of it is behind us already." "There's a trader come along with water," Uncle Toby suggested anxiously. "He ain't askin' so much neither, considerin' how far he's packed it." The old man's heart was set upon getting his mules through alive, as Mrs. Carter knew well. "How much is it. Uncle Toby?" she asked. "A dollar a gallon," he said. "Two gallons, Li'l Miss will do a lot to cheer those mules up. That's a gallon each." "You're forgetting Salt," his mistress said, taking her last three dollars from her purse and giving them to him. " 'Pears like the Cronins ought to buy water for a mule they's drivin," Uncle Toby suggested. "They would if they could, Uncle Toby," Mrs. Carter told him, "but they haven't the money." "I gwine be mighty happy when I see Marse Charles," the old man muttered as he turned away. A poor Carter he could understand but a Carter absolutely without resources he had never had to consider before. Always, from somewhere, what they wanted had been forthcoming, and Uncle Toby 220 Diantha's Quest was a little old, and slow at accepting this new situa- tion. Although they were not yet out of the desert the breaking up of the S. Brand party began here. Some of the younger men, who had been forced to abandon their wagons, asked and received permission of Captain Brand to push on to the mines with pack animals. The protection of numbers was no longer a necessity as it was on the plains, and it was not fair to hold those able to travel faster to the pace of the loaded prairie schooners. Sam and Captain Brand might have gone on with this party to their own advantage, but the latter was not one to take his responsibilities lightly. He had accepted the leadership of the train and, until they were safely over the Sierras, he could not feel himself free. A few days later the white mules began to throw up their heads and bray, regardless of the heavy sand through which they were plowing. "They sure smell water!*' Uncle Toby cried, and when the banks of the Carson river were reached at last they could hardly wait to be unharnessed before plunging into the stream. Indeed many of the men ran in fully clothed and were none the worse for it. "I felt as if I were a sponge sopping up water," Sam explained to Di. "I think the old desert had dried up even the marrow in my bones." A day's rest with plentiful water seemed to do wonders for all, and they pressed on again, eager to be over the Sierras. Already they began to feel Sourball in Trouble 221 themselves near their journey's end, for they met traders, just twelve days out from Sacramento City, who offered them flour at a dollar and a half a pound; sugar at a dollar and a quarter; and bacon at a dollar. The Carters were on short rations, but it was use- less to look longingly at these luxuries. They had no money and they must get along as best they could till they were able to sell the mules and wagon in California. A Mormon station, reached that afternoon, offered sugar and bacon at one dollar and seventy- five cents, an increase on the traders' prices. The people there were also very generous with unasked- for advice. According to them it was useless to try to take the wagons on from that point. Of course they could not buy them, or any surplus stores the emigrants had. They were overstocked already and the end of the season was in sight; but the S. Brands would find they needed seven teams at least to get one wagon over the summit. That was sure ! Captain Brand consulted the other men and they all finally came to the conclusion that the story was Drobably nothing more than the usual Mormon lie. But the next day, when they went on again, they found there was too much truth in it for comfort. The road defied description. There were rocks the size of sugar barrels, and, with eight feet of snow at the summit, the cold was intense and the heavy 222 Diantha's Quest clothing thrown away on the plains was badly missed. The cattle were utterly fagged when they had sur- mounted this ridge and camp was made for the night in the first valley. "These are the Witches' Mountains, all right," Sam said to Di; "I wonder if we coiild turn these stones into Lords and Princes if we had a fairy wand to touch them with?** "Fm sure we could," Di answered. "They look like that. We ought soon to hear the voice of some noble prisoner mourning at his captivity. Listen T* she held up her finger. They had walked on a short distance as they talked and now were somewhat above the camp from which, in the stillness they heard a low murmur; but nearer than that, and farther on toward the west, there came to them an unmistakable groan. "What was that?" asked Di sharply, moving closer to Sam for company. "I — I don't know," answered the boy, infected by her nervousness. Again came the groan and Sam reached for his pistol. "You go back to camp. I've got to see what it is." "I'm going with you," Di declared. "You've only to shoot off your pistol to bring help — and we can run if it's anything queer," she added as an after- thought. Cautiously the two advanced along the road and Sourball in Trouble 223 peered down into a small box-canon from whence the sound proceeded. Then they drew back and looked at each other in astonishment. **It's Sourball," said Sam at last. "What do you think's the matter with him?" Di inquired. "He and his wagon have gone over the edge," Sam declared. "We'll have to find out how much he's hurt." "Call down to him," Di suggested. "Hi, down there I" he shouted, but received no answer. "Whistle!" Di commanded, and Sam sent forth a piercing blast. "Do you hear me?" he shouted again. "Are you hurt?" But again there was no answer although the groaning had stopped. "We'll have to go down," said DI. "There's no help for it. Anyhow the side of the hill isn't much more dangerous than the road." So together, slipping, sliding and jumping, they at last reached the overturned wagon. Sourball was seated beside it, but did not welcome their ap- proach with any marked enthusiasm. "Are you hurt?" Sam asked. "Not much," returned the man sullenly. "We came down to see if we could help you," Di suggested. "You would do nothing when I had money to 224 Diantha's Quest pay," he returned showing that he recognized them. "You're little likely to be useful now." "Oh, I don't know about that," Di said. "We were always willing to do what we could." "What happened to you?" Sam asked curiously. "Fd lost one horse, so I harnessed myself with the other and made shift to come this far," Sourball re- plied. "The last horse was taken with something like the staggers and plunged over the edge, carry- ing me and everything I had in the world with it." The picture of this fierce, oldish man harnessed to his wagon side by side with his half-starved horse etched itself on Di's mind. It seemed horrible to her that he should have come so far to be beaten at the last. "We're short of horses," she said thoughtfully. "I think they're deciding now to leave at least half the wagons here and double-team; but mother and I have very little goods left. Tell me about your machine. Is it heavy?" The sympathy in the young voice pierced even the crusty man's armor. "It's not so heavy," he returned, "but I've not dared to look if it's smashed." He got up now and hobbled over to his wagon. This was a light affair and beyond a wheel torn from the hub, seemed little the worse. The horse however was dead without a doubt. "If we cut your beast out of the harness," Sam said," we might be able to right the wagon." Sourball in Trouble 225 "Aye," agreed Sourball, "but once we turn it over it will start down hill again." "How would it be," Di suggested eagerly, "if we cut away the canvas top and any lashings that hold your goods in the wagon? Then if you throw the wagon off, they will be left behind." "There's sense in that," Sourball said approvingly, and they all set busily to work, the man forgetting his bruises in the hope of salvaging his beloved inven- tion. The plan worked successfully, and as the wagon went crashing down hill his machine lay revealed. Di's heart sank, for to her eye it was an utter wreck; but Sourball ran his hands over it lovingly and de- clared there was nothing wrong that a few days' work would not set right again. So it was carefully wrapped in the canvas top and roped to a pole in or- der that two or more men could carry it up the moun- tainside to the road. Sam and he tried to lift it but the boy, although sturdy, was not strong enough, and it was decided to leave it where it was for the night and arrange to have it picked up next day. SourbalPs scanty supply of food was next gathered together to be carried into camp; but, when it came to the point, he was unable to make up his mind to desert his invention. "ril sleep with it," he said, somewhat shamefaced- ly. "I'd not rest easy away from it; but if you can take me on with you I'll be — " he hesitated before 226 DIantha's Quest he brought out the unaccustomed word, "grateful!** he ended, and turned away. "Fm sure mother will manage it," Di called after him, then Sam and she raced excitedly back to camp. "Mother dear," she cried on reaching their wagon, "Sam and I have rescued a captive from the Witches of the Mountain. Truly we have ! It's old Sour- ball and, you'll never believe it, but he's something of a pet!" CHAPTER XX THE END OF THE TRAIL OF course the discovery of Sourball in such a plight added one more burden to the S. Brands' portion, but no one dissented from Di's decision. Having come so far through sheer dogged grit, for the man had never been properly equipped, it seemed to everyone that he deserved to be helped through to the gold fields. And there was no grudging the aid that was accorded to him when Di's cheerful "Here's Mr. Ball now," stopped the train where he awaited them by the roadside. "You've had a bad shaking up. Ball," Brand said, "You stay where you are and some of the rest of us will go after your contraption. Don't you worry. We'll carry it as careful as if it was a teethin' baby we didn't want to wake up." And they were as good as their word, setting the machine in safety in the Carter's wagon where a place had been reserved for it among the belongings of tlie Brands and other people ; for, as Di had told Sourball the evening before, the S. Brands had once more cut down their baggage and wagons In order to double-team the rest. 227 228 DIantha's Quest Seraphy Tupper had brought out the velvet pelisse among other things and laid it by the road side. "I'm kissin' it good-by/' she said to her sister Ruth, who was watching her. "I reckon we can count ourselves lucky if we get through these mountains with what we stand up in/' Ruth made no answer to this, but she lingered behind after Seraphy had gone on and Clara Bell the eldest sister came upon het with a rolled up bundle in her arms. "What you got there?" she demanded curiously. "Seraphy's velvets/' Ruth answered tersely. "She throwed 'em away." "Did Melindy leave out her bunrtet, too," asked Clara Bell eagerly. "Yes," said Ruth. "You'll find it back there a piece. She hung it on a bush to the off-«ide of the road." Without further words Clara Bell swooped down upon the coveted plunder. Nothing more passed between the sisters. The bonnet and pelisse had disappeared as if by magic, but, as no one looked for them, this curious circumstance was not remarked. After Sourball's invention had been picked up, the advance to the second summit was begun. They had hardly gone a hundred yards before th^ lead team on the Carter outfit stopped and refused to budge. Uncle Toby was almost in tears. "They done took away my own little white mule," The End of the Trail 229 he said, "and gimme these here no account horses. How they 'spec's we're a-goin' on?" But the condition was serious. They were effec- tively blocking the road and everyone behind was giving them different advice. Some suggested mak- ing a cart, others insisted upon their abandoning wheels altogether. Finally it was decided to lighten the load by packing the pair of lead horses and seeing if the mules could then make shift for themselves. This was done and the horse which was laden with tins promptly took fright at their clattering and ran away. However there was only one direction in which it could run, up, and the poor beast was soon recaptured, exhausted, and its load transferred to a less flighty animal. But there is a knack in packing that is not to be learned in a minute and the loads continually slipped. At sunset the party had covered but six miles and all were so worn out that camp was made. "These are surely the Witches' Mountains," Sam whispered to Di. "Even Dots goes as if she had weights tied to her feet, and every mile is as long as three." Di nodded. "And the air makes you so hungry," she said rue- fully. "When I sit down to supper I feel like the giant who always swallowed his sheep whole." "Mrs. Cronin says that even little Tim has a grand appetite," Sam chuckled and Di, her mind at once taken off their own dwindling stores, exclaimed, 230 Diantha's Quest ''Goodness, does she? I'd better run and tell mother, or she'll stuff him till he's sick again." But she was too late. Little Tim already was pro- testing at being expected to digest a meal fit for a man, and he had not quite recovered two days later when at last the summit of the range was reached and a land of plenty lay spread out below them. Even yet all the difficulties were not over. The descent presented anything but an easy problem. The road, if one had ever existed, had vanished. The only thing that indicated that others had passed that way were grooves six inches deep worn in the trees by ropes used in lowering the wagons. Horses and mules must be led zig-zagging down in single file. After seeing the length of time required to go a scant mile Mrs. Carter called Captain Brand to her. "I've made up my mind to abandon our wagon," she said. "Uncle Toby is not equal to the work. All we have can be carried on one mule. Mr. Ball may use the other and we, at least, will no longer delay you." Brand looked at her with considerable admiration. "It don't hardly seem fair to you," he said, "seein' that the Cronins have one of your mules already." "They can't get along without it." Mrs. Carter cut him short. " Besides it is as important to us as to you to get out of the mountains. Uncle Toby is feeding the mules oak leaves and bark, but they are not thriving on the diet.'* The End of the Trail 231 Three other wagons were abandoned at this point and better time was made from then on. Di, Sam and the Cronin children found raspberries, plums and gooseberries in abundance and feasted on them, while everyone, even Sourball rejoiced in the beautiful flowers which were everywhere around them. "Look at the myrtles !'' he said to Di. "Fresh as in May, aren't they.'' "It's beautiful here, isn't it, Mr. Ball?" Di re- sponded. "It's like Fairy-land," the man surprised her by saying. "But why do you call me Mr. Ball? That isn't my name." "Isn't it," said Di, taken aback, and at a loss to explain that she had derived the name she called him from a derisive nickname. "No, it's Deitz," the man explained. "I don't care about the others, but I want you and your mother to know it." He turned away abruptly, hav- ing come as near to being effusive as his nature would allow. Three days later saw them in the gold valley. Here was the end of their pilgrimage together. Through indescribable hardships they had plodded weary miles in company, easing one another's bur- dens, ready to lend a helping hand to a neighbor in trouble, making common cause against the perils of the way. Dangers shared had knit the little band with close ties of friendship, and, now that each 232 Diantha's Quest family was to go its separate way, the breaking of those bonds brought tears and heartaches. Fare- wells were said, promises to send word of how each fared were exchanged, little mementoes given and taken. But the gold that had lured them west and had steeled their courage to face the unknown still beck- oned, and now that it seemed within their grasp they itched to be digging for the yellow metal. A few, mostly young men, were keen to locate at once and wash out a fortune or two before they sought a town to refit. The Cronins, bound for a camp further north toward Mt. Shastl, where Cronin's brother had re- ported that he was making "grand money," took one Carter mule with them, promising to send back the price of it as soon as Cronin had dug it out of the ground. Sourball, with a similar promise, borrowed the second mule to push on to Sacramento City, where he intended to repair his machine, and then go up the Feather River. Mrs. Carter was to forward her ad- dress to Sutter's Fort for him when once she was permanently located. At last all that was left of the S. Brand wagon train were its captain, his son, and the Carter party. "What are you plannin*. Mis' Carter?" Brand asked her. "WeVe been together so long I kind of feel responsible for you ladies yet." "I have to find my husband, Mr. Brand," Mrs, The End of the Trail 233 Carter said, "but before we can go on, I must earn some money somehow. You see I had counted on the sale of the mules and the wagon to carry us a little further, where we could perhaps send a mes- senger to find Mr. Carter and advise him of our situation." "I don't want to interrupt,'' said Captain Brand, "but do you mean you ain't got nothin' but the mules?" "That's all we have left," Mrs. Carter admitted a trifle reluctantly. She had no wish to make a claim upon Captain Brand's pity. "Where is Mr. Carter?" was the next question, asked with a puckered brow, and by degrees Cap- tain Brand was put in command of the entire situa- tion. "It comes down to this," Brand said at last. "If we had money, we could send someone to hunt for Mr. Carter. As we haven't, for all I have by me belongs to the club that sent me here, we're 'bliged to wait till we earn some. Either me or Sammy." "But I can't be a burden upon you," Mrs. Carter began, when Sam interrupted her eagerly, one finger pointing to a paragraph in a little brown paper book he held toward her. "You could make some money yourself, Mis' Car- ter," he suggested, "if you'd be willin,' that is. Read this." " *A store and several boarding shanties'," Mrs. Carter read, and seizing his idea at once, she said. 234 Diantha's Quest "But we haven't any supplies to start a boarding table, Sam." "I think the miners would pay a little just to have cookin' done for them,'' Sam replied readily. "Their own food, I mean. Most of them don't know any cookin' except to stir a little yeast powder up with some flour and water and call it biscuits when they've burnt it round the edges." "That's the ticket. Mis' Carter," Brand exclaimed. "That's a job you can leave any time you're a-mind to, and there's nothin' to prevent writin' or sendin' some word to Mr. Carter while you're doin' it." So it was settled that the two little parties should stay together for a time at least, and they got into Weaversville that afternoon where they traded one of Brand's horses for a light cart. Here also they met two of the young men who had left them in the desert and they reported that provisions were high and gold scarce thereabout. This decided them to go to one of the streams mentioned favorably in Sam's invaluable guide book and a week later they were established some ten miles above the workings of Sunol and Company on Weber's Creek. Here they found a shanty deserted by two men who had rushed off at the news of a heavy strike on the Cosumne River although they had been making close to forty dollars a day where they were. Sam and Mr. Brand, Captain no longer, took up claims and set to work feverishly, each hoping to strike it rich before the other, and the days passed in rapid succession. The End of the Trail 235 Mrs. Carter ^nd Di helped Uncle Toby to make two small additions to their cabin. Their room was roofed with boughs and the canvas of their wagon top, which they had brought with their possessions bundled in it, while Uncle Toby made similar use of his tent. They hoped that this would give suffi- cient protection even in the rainy season, still some weeks off. Sam's prediction that miners would be found glad to pay to have their cooking done for them proved correct, and soon Mrs. Carter had, beside Sam and Mr. Brand, six other men to cater for. Only lack of accommodation kept others away from her table. Di kept the main room gay with flowers and ber- ries, and Uncle Toby swept and scrubbed assidu- ously ; but at best the place was a poor substitute for a home and Mrs. Carter began to doubt her wisdom in making that long hard march across the trail. She did not grieve for herself nor did she grudge the work. In fact she was more than glad that she had found some means by which she could earn her living in that rough camp. But she was not happy when she thought of her daughter's surroundings. The miners treated them with an exaggerated re- spect, but they were rough men for the most part, and Mrs. Carter began to ask herself whether she would not have done more wisely to have put her pride in her pocket and returned to Virginia, where her child would have the advantages of gentle as- sociates to which she was entitled. 236 Diantha's Quest Not that Di was unhappy. Far from it The girl was the friend and confidant of almost every man in the camp. Hardly a day passed that some little gift was not tendered to one or other of the "ladies" by these rather lonely men, who were grateful for the touch of home the two gave to the place. Had she been alone Mrs. Carter would have been happy in the thought that she was on the road to find her husband; but Di's presence was a source of constant anxiety and there were times when she felt that Mr. Carter was even farther away than he had seemed before she had taken that venture- some journey. On one of these trying days for Mrs. Carter she was sitting alone in the main room of their shack. Suddenly a figure darkened the door-way of the cabin and a man's voice called to her. ^'Missus," he began dolefully, " a miner told me there was a lady doctor here.'* "He must have meant me,'* Mrs. Carter replied. "Come in, and tell me what I can do for you." The man shambled into the room and held out a gaily labeled bottle toward the seated woman. "Can you tell me," be blurted out, "is this here Panacea any good?" Mrs. Carter took the bottle, shaking her head and smiling half sadly. This was not a new sort of case for her; but the man went on volubly now that he was started. "I've took quarts of that, ma'am. Before that it was K. F. Hibbard's Bitters ! Why there ain't nothin' I haven't The End of the Trail 237 tried that I know of. There's Chelcea Syrup I May- be IVe stowed away a dozen bottles o' that stuff. And then there's those little pink Indian pills in the blue box that everybody says are grand. They didn't touch me, though I've eaten hundreds! And it's the same with the Shaker's Tomsonian medicines and Mr. A. Gilbert's Pills. I've given 'em all a chance, but nothin' seems to take hold o' me right," he ended mournfully. "Did it ever occur to you to give your poor stom- ach a rest, Mr. Yerber?" Mrs. Carter asked, hav- ing recognized her distressed visitor. The man started and looked at her keenly as she spoke his name, then shook his head. He had only seen the lady once and she had worn a sunbonnet on that occasion, so it is not to be wondered at that he had no recollection of her. "That's my name, ma'am," he replied, "Guess youVe heard o' me around here. But what do you mean by givin' my stomach a rest?" "I assume you have indigestion from the remedies you have been taking," said Mrs. Carter. "Somethin' terrible!" Yerber declared, "and what I aims at is to get a medicine that will kind o* strangle it! I'll take anything you say, ma'am, and much obliged." "What you need is as little food as you can live on," Mrs. Carter announced crisply. "If you could get it, I should say that a diet of milk and nothing else was best for you. As for this stuff," she indi- 238 Diantha's Quest cated the bottle in her hand, "it's ruining your diges- tion — or what is left of it after the other patent nostrums youVe been taking." "But, ma'am," Yerber began in protest, "they've cost enough to make me a new stomach, and they was highly recommended, every last one of 'em I" At that moment Di came running in. She carried a pair of grayish birds in her hand and at first paid no heed to the man standing there. She was used to finding miners consulting Mrs. Carter about all sorts of trivial things, and at the moment she was too interested to even glance at the visitor. "Look, mama," she cried excitedly, holding up the birds so that her mother might inspect them. "Aren't they pretty? See their cunning little topknots! It seems a shame to kill them." "Where did you get them?" Mrs. Carter asked. "From that Frenchman everybody calls "Keske- dee' — the man who won the lottery to come here," the girl replied. "He shot them for you. They're California quail and very good to eat." She turned, as if for confirmation, to the visitor and looked up into his face. "Why, it's Mr. Yerber!" she ex- claimed. "I thought you had gone to Bidwell's Bar." The moment he saw Di, Yerber had remembered where he had encountered these two before, and for an instant he scowled, then a rather crafty look came into his eyes and by the time Di recognized him The End of the Trail 239 he had assumed a most urbane and deferential man- ner. "Why I recollect now, ma'am," he said, address- ing Mrs. Carter. "We had a talk Vay back near St. Jo! And now we're meetin' up again here. Queer, ain't it?" "It's not very extraordinary," Mrs. Carter re- plied. "I expected we'd see you again, Mr. Yerber,'* Di remarked and her voice betrayed something of the distrust and antagonism she felt toward this man. "Well, I should never have expected it," Yerber commented genially. "You'll excuse my sayin' it, ma'am, but I never took it serious that you and your daughter here were really set on crossin' by the trail." "We were, you see," Di cut in. "You wouldn't let us go with you, but we found others who did." "And that don't say my advice to you wasn't good," Yerber insisted. "This ain't a place for ladies that has been used to comforts and such. They belong back home, if you ask me." "But we didn't ask you," Di declared pertly. "We felt obliged to come, Mr. Yerber," Mrs. Carter said amicably, thinking it high time to put a stop to Di's show of unfriendliness. "Well, you must o'seen for yourself that gold isn't to be picked up without work you ain't fit for — if that's what you came to get," he added significantly. "We came to find my father," Di informed him. 240 Diantha's Quest "But he ain't here/' Yerber declared. "How can you be so sure of that?" Di demanded. "You said you didn't know him." "Neither I do," the man returned with a laugh intended to show an indifference to her attitude to- ward him and to cover up his slight slip. "I wouldn't recognize your pa if I was to bump into him in the street. But no man could let his women folks work the way I hear you are working. Not in these diggins.' " These words touched on a sensitive nerve although Yerber had no idea how his statement rankled in Mrs. Carter's brain. Many times lately she had realized that the rough men with whom she was as- sociated had scant respect for a husband who would neglect his wife and child as she and her daughter were apparently neglected. She could not take the whole camp into her confidence, but the miners' at- titude of mind was evident in more ways than one, and the implied criticisms of Mr. Carter hurt her sorely. Moreover she had been reproaching her- self for having brought Di, and now this uncouth Yerber was putting into words thoughts she had not dared to formulate. For herself she cared not what any of them might think or say, but she would have been glad if Diantha had been left in Virginia with her grandfather. It was on the tip of her tongue to make a suitable reply to Yerber's last remark when the girl spoke shortly. The End of the Trail 241 "I'm going to see Sam, mama," she said and, turning on her heel, quitted the room. After her departure there was silence for a mo- ment. Then Yerber spoke. *'Seems like I always manage to rile the young lady," he admitted with a show of frankness. "Don't know how it is, but somehow she has a notion I know where her pa is. I tell you plain, ma'am, I don't." "She's only a child, Mr. Yerber," Mrs. Carter replied. She herself had little liking for this bluster- ing adventurer, but she had no wish to make an enemy of him. "Don't worry," he went on, "I ain't takin' it amiss. Maybe I'm to blame for your bein' in this fix, anyway." "I hardly see that," Mrs. Carter returned. "Well," Yerber drawled, "you'll allow that this ain't no place for a woman." "I'm not complaining, Mr. Yerber," Mrs. Car- ter said. She herself felt a momentary resentment toward the man for his presumption, which he was quick to note. "I ain't aimin' to interfere with your business, ma'am," he hastened to assure her. "That ain't what's frettin' me. Only seein' as how I might have showed you plainer what you was lettin' your- self in for, back there in St. Jo, I kind o' blame my- self for not doin' it. If I'd a-took some trouble pointin' out all the difficulties you was to encounter 242 Diantha's Quest when you got here, instead o* sayin\ short, I wouldn't take your outfit, well, — maybe you'd a- stayed east" **I don't believe so," Mrs. Carter replied frankly. "I had made up my mind to come." "Well, ma'am, maybe you had," Yerber conceded, "but that don't no ways excuse me for not tellin' you. Then, too, you have took an interest in my dispepsy, and I'd like to make it up to you, ma'am. We all have to help each other out in these diggin's, and you stand in need o' help or I miss my guess." "We're doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances," Mrs. Carter insisted. "I know all that, ma'am," Yerber went on. "But how long is it goin' to last, that's what I'm askin' you? You've got nothin' to count on here. Gold is comin' in mighty slow, and the minute a real strike turns up anywhere else this whole crowd will light out for the new diggin's before sun-up. Why, ma'am, I've seen camps where there's maybe five hundred men one night and the next mornin' there wasn't one left within miles of the place." Mrs. Carter gave an involuntary start. Here was a possibility she had not taken into account, but there was no question of its probability. She remem- bered the labor that had gone into making their shack even habitable, and she shrank from the thought of having to rush off in the train of these gold-crazed miners to make another home for herself and her daughter in an unknown spot. It was only too true The End of the Trail 243 that any day might bring news of a fresh discovery to which the men would flock, leaving behind them paying claims, perhaps, in the hope of finding imagin- ary fortunes in the new location. All of them, know- ing the work they were obliged to do, were ready to believe that a richer strike was to be found. Reason played no part in their decisions. They trusted to luck, learning nothing from past experiences nor heeding the advice of those few who kept their heads. Yerber was not blind to the fact that he had made an impression by his last remark and went on to am- plify it. "Then there's your daughter, ma'am, You'll ad- mit this ain't a place to bring her up. There ain't any advantages like she ought to have — no chance for a fine education. Where can you get teachers here to learn her to make wax flowers, or paint pictures on velvet, or any elegant doin's like that?" "But what alternative have I?" Mrs. Carter was giving voice to the despair in her heart rather than appealing to the man before her, but Yerber had a ready answer. "You leave it to me, ma'am," he replied confi- dentially. "I'll get you the money to go back." "But how?" asked Mrs. Carter. "Oh, the miners are a friendly crowd," Yerber explained. "I've heard 'em talk around these dig- gin's. They kind o' think you ought to be taken care of, and all I'll have to do is to speak to 'em. 244 Diantha's Quest There ain't one who won't chip in a day's pay to send you back home." Yerber stopped and glanced keenly at Mrs. Car- ter, who, busy with her thoughts was looking away from him, scarcely conscious, for the moment, of his presence. Had she come to the point where she was ready to accept charity? The very fact that she did not instantly reject his offer showed more plainly than she herself recognized that such was the case. But Yerber, for all his apparent generosity and show of kindly spirit, was not wholly disinterested. He had an object to gain which he thought it wise not to mention yet. He could make his bargain when he came with the money in his hand. "It's the young lady, your daughter, I'm thinkin' of," he remarked, after a moment. "To tell you the truth this ain't the place for her. You'll excuse my sayin' it, ma'am, but the girl if she stays here, is likely to grow up no better than a squaw!" He had thought that this last observation would clinch the matter but there was a point beyond which Mrs. Carter would not go. Already she had borne more of this man's talk than she would have thought possible a few months back, but there was a limit to what she would endure. "I appreciate your kindly intentions, Mr. Yerber," she said, rising, "and I'll think it over. But you will have to excuse me now. I have duties to attend to. I hope you will take my advice and throw all those The End of the Trail 245 patent nostrums away." Saying which she left Yer- ber in possession of the main room and went out into a lean-to which served as their kitchen. Alone the man looked about him curiously; then instead of leaving he walked with stealthy steps toward the rear of the room where a spot of color glowed. Di, feeling the need of ornament, had hung her cherished map on the wall and the man ex- amined it with visibly rising excitement. Suddenly he made as if to seize it, when a soft voice stopped him with his hand in the air. "Yes, sir," said Uncle Toby, "that there's a mighty prutty little contraption. It belong' to our Miss Di. Marse Charles sent It home for to amuse the child, like." The old man had entered the cabin quietly and set about laying the table for the next meal, and Yerber, seeing that he was not likely to have the place to himself again, slapped on his hat and left without a word. CHAPTER XXI YERBER SPEAKS OUT ON her way to the place where Sam was work- ing his claim Di mused thoughtfully over the sudden reappearance of Yerber. The belief that he knew something of her father had taken complete possession of her and nothing he could say would disabuse her mind of that conviction. She was willing to admit, even to herself, that the inci- dent of the gloves was by no means sure proof of this. His explanation was plausible enough, as she realized after hearing numerous tales of Mexicans who hovered about the gold fields. But instinctively she distrusted him and it was well-nigh impossible for her to be civil in his presence. Yerber's arrival seemed to take all the joy out of her life. He reminded her of those days when they were in St. Joseph waiting to start out, full of -hope and certain of the result once they reached California. The trials then and later on the road were quickly forgotten, because there was always the promise that she would find her father as soon as the journey ended. There had never been any doubt in her mind that ultimately they would meet 246 Yerber Speaks Out 247 him, but at length they had reached the gold fields and days had gone by without a word of his where- abouts. Di had much the same feeling as her mother that in California they were no nearer to him they sought than they had been before they made the trip across the continent. Their lack of money had grown daily more and more irksome. Letters had been written to the ranch In the south that Mr. Smith had told them of, but so far no answer had come, and Di longed to go there herself. She wanted to search from one end of California to the other, and would never have rested until her quest was rewarded had they not lacked the means to pay their way. At first she and her mother had talked of taking up a claim and hunting for their share of the gold which had been reported as so plentiful, but they had seen nothing to encourage this idea. They soon learned that the stories of quick fortunes easily made were mostly fables, and that steady and laborious work was necessary to obtain any of the precious metal. Neither of them had the strength to attempt it. The pay dirt had to be dug up, carried to a stream and there washed till nothing but sand and gold was left. This remainder was dried in the sun, then the sand was blown away with a bellows, carrying with it a great part of the fine gold. As she walked along Di watched four men operating a cradle. One dug, another carried the red pay-dirt to the machine, the third gave it a violent rocking motion, while the 248 Diantha's Quest fourth poured in bucket after bucket of water to wash away the soil. Hour after hour, day in and day out, they toiled, hoping that at each new shovel- ful a fortune might be disclosed to them. In some places the gold-seekers were standing in the icy mountain water washing away the earth in pans or baskets. They were chilled to the bone by the low temperature of the stream swirling about them almost waist-deep, but upon their heads blazed a burning sun. Many a strong man had succumbed to the exhaustion of this trying labor, and it was as- suredly no work for women. "I suppose I needn't expect to find a fortune by magic," Di thought ruefully. "I had my chance at the Wishing Well. Of course Fm not sorry for what I did. Papa would have wanted me to help little Timmy; but oh, I wish I had another wish!" In the distance Sam's cheerful whistling became audible and she quickened her pace. The boy was a very good cure for blues. "Well, what luck today, Sam?" she asked as she came up to him. "Oh, I've done pretty well," he answered with a grin. "I found a real big chispa that must weigh nearly an ounce I should say." He stepped out of the water and opened his little buckskin sack for her inspection. "See, Di. There's a bit of quartz sticking to it, and anyhow I can't tell exactly what it'll come to till I get Dad's scales." "But it isn't a fortune, Sam," Di told him, still Yerber Speaks Out 249 under the influence of her depressing thoughts. "And I don't understand it. I got my wish and you should have gotten yours by this time. I've been expecting you to make a big strike any day for weeks." *Tou don't know what I wished," Sam chuckled. "And I'm not going to tell you, that's sure. I don't mean to spoil it all." "That's right," Di agreed. "Don't tell me. At least not till you get it." Then, with a sudden change of subject. "You'll never guess who I saw just now." "I know," said Sam. "I saw them too and there was like to be a riot, because Ruth and Clara Bell had saved up Seraphy's velvet contraption and Melinda's bunnet that they throwed away and was wearin' them to show off. Seraphy wasn't remem- berin' that findin's was keepin's, the way she once said it was. But all the girls looked wonderful grand, wearin' wide hoopskirts and spit curls I I tell you they was stylish." "Have they come here to live?" asked Di aston- ished. "I thought they were going to Dutch Flat." "They did go there, but Mr. Tupper only made fair wages. Not what he'd come to Californy for at all. So they've been prospectin' here and there on their way to the Bay, where they're going to spend the rainy season. 'Course, if Tupper made a big strike anywhere, he'd stay with it and the women folk could go to San Francisco alone, but I don't think he's likely to." "Why not?" Di asked. 250 Diantha's Quest "He's too impatient," Sam said. "There's good claims that take developin'. Now that tunnel of Dad's up the hillside a ways is just beginning to pay. Tupper turns *his nose up at that. And when I showed him my chispa he told me he'd found lots of bigger ones — that he was lookin' for«a real strike. He don't think much of the prospects hereabouts, so they're goin' right on." "He must expect gold cobble-stones," said Di. "I'd like to have seen them all though. The girls are awfully good-hearted." "Who did you meet up with, if it wasn't them?" Sam asked. He had begun to work again, but stopped, astonished at Di's answer. "Yerber, of the BidwelFs Bar Express. You re- member? Will they do anything to him, do you think, for burning the grass on the prairie?" "Not now," the boy returned. "He's safe enough. Probably no one here knows about it except us. It's only when they catch a man red-handed that it goes hard with him." "He didn't seem especially pleased to see us," Di said. "At least I don't know what he thought. He doesn't let you know if he can help it; but, Sam, I'm sure he could tell us about father if he wanted to." "Why shouldn't he then?" Sam demanded, not unnaturally. He was at work again while he talked. "I can't think why, but I'm sure," Di insisted. "Well," Sam grunted over his pan, "it does seem to me that he would say something. I didn't ever Yerber Speaks Out 251 cotton to the man and Dad didn't like him neither; but there wasn't anything against him, ever I heard of, except settin' that grass a-fire." "That was bad enough!" Di exclaimed. "Yes, but we never was sure it was Yerber him- self, though we suspicioned him," Sam returned. He was trying to be fair. "You're just like mother !" Di burst out. "Every- thing has to be down in black and white, or you don't believe it. I'm just as certain that Yerber knows something about my father as I am that the sun is shining." Sam came -out of the water again, looking disap- pointedly at«the pin point specks of gold in his pan. "The sun's shinin' all right," he muttered. "My feet are so cold I can't feel 'em and my head's so hot my brains are boilin'. I guess I'm like a pail of ice-cream at a picnic." Di laughed. Sam was pretty sure to put her In a good humor sooner or later, and she turned more cheerfully to go back to their forlorn home. "Anyway, I wish you'd keep on thinking about Yerber," she said at parting. "I can't -imagine any plausible reason why he shouldn't tell us, but I'm sure he has one." "Thinkin' ain't my strong point, but I'll do the best I can," Sam promised. "All right, do I Now I must go help mama with supper," and Di ran down the hill. That same evening when they were alone and all 252 Diantha's Quest traces of the evening meal had been removed, Mrs. Carter called Di to her side. "Sit down, dear,'* she said gently. "We must have a little talk together. I'm afraid Vm more discouraged'about finding your father than I was on the trail." "I know,'* Di confessed, "but I think I know the reason for it. On the trail it seemed that all we had to do was to get to California when, hey presto, papa would appear! Now that we're here, we find that California is a very big place. But .that doesn't mean-that we won't find him sooner or later." Mrs. Carter shook her head doubtfully. "I heard today from the Express Company. They have been unable to deliver our letters to your father." "Oh I" Di exclaimed, her face paling as the signi- ficance of this news made itself felt. "Did they say why they couldn't?" "He wasn't to be found," Mrs. Carter replied. "There is no one at the Buenos Aguas Rancho who understands English, but the messenger talks Span- ish. He reports that the peons on the estate told him that their master had gone home, which means Spain, I suppose." "But surely they knew of father," Di insisted. "They said that Captain Carter was no longer there," her mother continued. "There seems to be no doubt of that, for the agent of the company made every effort to find him." Yerber Speaks Out 253 "Then we shall have to find him ourselves !'* Di cried. She was not going to let this discouragement break her faith, but she felt the need of fighting for it. **If we go there ourselves Fm sure we can learn about father." "But the money?" Mrs. Carter reminded the girl. "We must save and save till we have enough!" Di declared. "There's nothing else to do." "Yes, there is," her mother replied, "and I have been thinking over it very seriously. We can go back home. Remember it is there your father would expect to find us, and lately I have felt that I made a mistake to bring you out here." "Oh, don't let's do that, mama," Di begged, and there was real distress in her voice as she spoke. "Beside, we would need money to take us east. Much more than we have." "A friend hasoffered to provide the money," Mrs. Carter half-whispered. "A friend?" echoed Di. Except Sam and his father, who could not afford to do what her mother suggested, Di knew of no one in the camp to whom this title could be properly applied. "His offer was friendly," Mrs. Carter went on to explain, "and I am tempted to take it." "But we donlt know anybody who is rich enough," Di replied, puzzled. "The suggestion was that the whole camp would 254 Diantha's Quest contribute if the word was given," Mrs. Carter ex- plained. "Charity I" Di burst out. "Charity that we could never hope to repay as we might a loan from one person! Vd rather die right here than accept it!" "I expected you to say that," the other admitted, "but I am not sure you are right. Sometimes it may be a duty to accept an affront to your pride — " "Would you do it for yourself?" Di demanded suddenly and Mrs. Carter, taken off her guard for an instant, flushed. "Never!" she cried, and then, with a catch in her voice, "but Di dear, Fm not thinking of myself." "I know you're not," Di exclaimed, throwing her arms about her mother. "You wouldn't dream of it if it wasn't for me ; but oh, mama darling, let's fight it out ourselves. Something will happen soon, I'm sure." The appeal, coming straight from Di's heart could hardly be withstood. Mrs. Carter had to choose be- tween the anxiety she felt for her brave daughter's future and her own inclination to struggle on, and in the end the girl had her way. If worse came to worst she might, for Di's sake, appeal to her hus- band's family in Virginia, and the more she con- sidered it the more satisfied she became that if her pride must be humbled this was the better way. "Who suggested this collection, mama?" Di asked, after a time. "Was it that Yerber man?" "Yes," Mrs. Carter admitted. "When you went Yerber Speaks Out 255 out this afternoon he proposed finding the money for us. I confess I don't like the man any more than you do, my dear but he seemed entirely friendly — .'' "He's nothing of the sort!" Di interrupted vio- lently. "He wants to get rid of us. He's afraid of us for some reason. After all, perhaps he did steal father's gloves — " "Diantha," Mrs. Carter cut in sharply, "you must not make such accusations under any circum- stances. Stealing, as you well know, is punished by hanging in these mining camps, and you have noth- ing to go on but a vague suspicion of this man, who has never done anything to warrant it." "You were suspicious of him yourself at St. Jo. You know you were, mama," Di insisted. "I had no reason to be," Mrs. Carter confessed. "Just because he would not take us in !iis outfit is no reason why he shouldbe accused of a crime. No, my dear, you must try to overcome your animosity. It may lead to serious trouble." A slight noise at the door drew their attention in that direction and there stood the man of whom they had been talking. "Well, ma'am," he called genially, "I thought I'd drop around and see what you had to say about the offer I made this afternoon." "We are not going to take it, Mr. Yerber!" Di burst out. "We came to California to find my father, and we don't mean to go back until we do!" Mrs. Carter expected that the man would retort 256 Diantha's Quest disagreeably at this answer of her daughter's, but in this she was mistaken. Yerber laughed. "The little miss has got a temper, hasn't she?'* he cried, stepping into the room. **Well, I guess she ain't the only one who can speak. What do you say, ma'am?" *'We're obliged for your offer, Mr. Yerber, but we cannot accept it," Mrs. Carter replied with dignity. Instantly the man's mannci* changed. "So that's it," he said, with almost a snarl in his voice. "You think you'll stay and find it by your- selves I" "We'll try to find Mr. Carter," was the calm answer. Yerber, evidently much disturbed by something, took a turn or two about the room and seemed to be struggling to control himself. At length he pushed a chair near to the spot where Mrs. Carter and Di were sitting, and dropped into it heavily. "I guess we'd better talk straight," he began. "I've got my own views of why you won't go east, and I'm ready to make terms with you. I know a lot more about this country than you do. I can see it through, and you can't never get on without someone to help you. You'll need a mule team, and you'll need the strength of a man. That old slave of yours ain't no ways up to the work ahead of you. Every word I'm sayin' is true, ma'am, and you've been here long enough to know It. I might be mean and take it Yerber Speaks Out 257 all; but, seem' that you have the location, rm will- ing to split with you, share and share alike even if I do bear all the expenses. Come now, that's gen- erous, ain't it?" He looked from mother to daug'h- ter expectantly, but for an instant they were both too astonished to speak. "There ain't many who would treat you as fair as that," he insisted. "Come! Let's make a deal of it. I swear I'll divide everything fair and square and you shan't have any cause to complain. Is it a go?" "Mr. Yerber," said Mrs. Carter positively, "we do not know what you are talking about." Yerber looked at her incredulously then he smiled a knowing smile. "All right," he said, "we'll leave it like that. You don't know what I'm talking about, so I'll tell you. I'm a-talkin' about the hidalgo's treasure. If you take me in as a pardner I'll guarantee to get it and turn a cool half of it over to you. How's that?" "The hidalgo's treasure!" Mrs. Carter was ut- terly bewildered. "I do not know any hidalgo." "To be sure you don't," Yerber said facetiously. "You never heard tell of his treasure 'either. Well, I'll tell you this much about it so that you'll know / know. Hearing that the American troops were likely to come his way, he rode off with it and hid it. It's never been found since then, and if you and me dig it up it's ours with no one to say a word against it. Findin's is keepin's, and that's good law 258 Diantha's Quest before any alcalde hereabouts. Not that anyone need know about it, for I see youVe a lady that can keep your mouth shut when you want to." "What kind of a treasure is it?** Di asked thoughtfully. "Oh, you know,** Yerber said in an off-hand man- ner. "Just what those old Spaniards always have. Lots of plate, if there*s nothing but chile con carne on the table ; and diamonds and emeralds and pearls, to dress out their silks and satins.** "But we know nothing of such a treasure,** Mrs. Carter declared, bewildered. "How should we? We've only just come into the country.*' "You mean you want me to think you don*t know,** Yerber said. "Well, ma'am, •there*s no use trying to set me off the trail because I know you know. But to save all unpleasantness and to make sure you're quite satisfied, here*s one more offer. 1*11 give you all the best of it. You shall have two-thirds and ril rest content with a third, and you*ll never hear a word of complaint out of me. Now what have you got to say?** "Just what I said before,** Mrs. Carter replied. "It is all I can say. I know nothing of this treasure. Absolutely nothing!** "I suppose you*d like to tell me it doesn*t exist,** said Yerber with a sneer. "Well, you needn*t. I've known about it almost since it was planted. I've always meant to have a try for it, and now I warn you. I've given you a chance to take me in as a Yerber Speaks Out 259 friend. You're kind of proud and stuck-up and don't cotton to me, or perhaps you think you won't have to split with any one. It makes no odds to me. I'm out to get that treasure and if you won't help me I'll go it alone. How will that suit you, eh?" "Very well, Mr. Yerber," Di said. "Much better than having you for a partner. But there's just one question I'd like to ask you. Is the hidalgo you speak of my father's friend of the Buenos Aguas Rancho?" Yerber who had been striding nervously up and down the cabin stopped in his tracks and there was an instant's silence before he replied. Then he spoke rather elaborately. "I disremember exactly," he said, "but it seems to me that you asked me about your pa once before and I told you I didn't know him. I don't know his friends either, and you're in a better position than I am to say which rancho the hidalgo's treasure came from." Di did not reply to this. Her question had been made without any real hope of an answer and she had gained nothing by it. Mrs. Carter, anxious to end a profitless interview and to control the animosities Yerber and Di always roused in each other, now spoke with absolute finality. "I'm sorry Mr. Yerber, if you think that we're de- ceiving you," she said, "but I assure you that we know absolutely nothing that would help you to 260 Diantha's Quest find this treasure you speak of. I never heard of it before you mentioned it this evening. There is no reason for you to share it with me if you can find It. I wish you good luck — and good evening!'* Yerber realized that he was dismissed and moved toward the door. Indeed he was partly convinced. He believed that Mrs. Carter at least did not know of the treasure. Surely she would not have given up all claim to it if she had. "How about you, young Miss?'' he asked on the threshold. "Do you say, same as your ma, that if I find it you have no claim on it?" But Di was little minded to send him away satis- fied. "Dear me, no," she said innocently. "You said you would give us two-thirds, didn't you. I certainly will hope to hold you to your promise, Mr. Yerber, if you recover the treasure through any help of ours, direct or indirect." "I thought so!" Yerber snorted as he pushed through the doorway. "Well, Miss, I'll have it in spite of you!" "Now what did you mean by that, Di?" Mrs. Carter asked, half indignantly. "You make a point of courting that man's ill-will, yet you don't know anything about this treasure, do you?" "Not a thing, except what he told us," Di answered, "but I'm sure this hidalgo is the one J. B. Smith wrote you about; and I'm always longing to make Yerber betray that he knew papa." Yerber Speaks Out 261 Mrs. Carter turned away rather hopelessly. "Go to bed, now," she said at last, "and Di dear, to oblige me, do not excite this man's enmity. I think he might be dangerous." "Don't worry," Di urged. "He's a coyote not a wolf. He'd run if you said *Boo' to him." "I'm not so sure of that," her mother insisted. "At any rate it is a good rule in life to make as few enemies as you can. Good night, my dear." CHAPTER XXII A TORN MAP DI WENT to bed obediently, but not to sleep. She kept revolving in her mind Yerber's curi- ous assumption that she and her mother possessed information of great value which they were concealing from him. She wondered why he should think that, trying to remember if there was anything they might have said to give him such an idea. That he was convinced they had a clue to some hidden treasure there could be no doubt. The man's manner, as well as what he had proposed, con- firmed that fact, but what could have given him such an impression? Di sought vainly for an answer. Yet there was something that required an ex- planation. From the moment they had first come into contact with Yerber the girl had sensed a cer- tain indescribable antagonism on the man's part toward them. Her demand to know how he had come to have her father's gloves might account for it in a measure, but that by no means solved the mystery of his latest proposition. Mrs. Carter came to bed and was soon sound asleep. Di could hear her regular breathing while 262 A Torn Map 263 she herself tossed and turned and twisted for what seemed to her hours. At length, feeling feverish and thirsty she decided to get herself a drink of water and, with every precaution to avoid waking her mother, she slipped out of bed. The night had grown chilly, so she put on a long coat and pushed her feet into Indian moccasins which lay beside her bed. Then, on tiptoe, she passed under the blanket that hung in the doorway, separating their sleeping place from the main room of the shack. Instantly she became aware that someone was moving cautiously across the floor. The front door stood open and, against the faint light of the sky, a dark form was silhouetted for an instant. Although she had but a momentary glance at the outlined figure she was certain the man was Yerber. Her first impulse was to cry out, but her hands went to her lips instinctively and, pressing back against the blanket, she held her breath and watched. Here she felt, was the opportunity to discover what was in the man^s mind. She remembered suddenly how their wagon had been searched that night back in St. Jo, an outrage which she had attributed to Yer- ber*s desire to obtain the gloves he had given up with such a show of good nature ; but his visit, this time, had nothing to do with gloves she was cer- tain. It concerned the treasure of which he had talked that evening, and the girl was determined, if she could, to learn what he was after. She had not long to wait. Apparently the man 264 Diantha's Quest knew his ground, for without hesitation he moved across the room toward the blank wall In the rear, stepping noiselessly as a cat. DI chuckled silently to herself, thinking that there was nothing there that the Intruder could possibly want, when a slight rustling sound gave her the key to his motive for this night's visitation. It was the map of Fairy-land he was hunting for. Evidently he had conceived it to be a record of the locality of the mysterious treasure. DI considered this notion an absurdity, but she had no intention of losing her precious drawing. Without further thought she ran toward him. "You can't have that, Mr. Yerber!" she cried, and seized his arm. The intruder was startled, but he was by no means caught. Moreover he dared not, for his life, be taken. He knew well enough that the miners would make short work of his case and that he stood in the very shadow of the gallows. And meanwhile the girl was calling lustily for help, as she grasped the map he had risked so much to secure. It was no time for parleying. The man turned quickly, giving DI a sharp push, and there was a tearing sound as the girl reeled and fell against the wall. Then he fled out of the door and disappeared. DI, her hand gripping the portion of the map she had seized, felt herself falling and then, for a time her senses left her. When she came to herself there was a light in the room, her mother was bending IT WAS THE MAP OF FAIRYLAND HE WAS HUNTING FOR A Torn Map 265 over her and she saw the faces of Sam and Mr. Brand looking over Mrs. Carter's shoulder. She sat up quickly, a little bewildered for a moment, then, remembering what had happened, sprang to her feet. "Catch Yerber !" she cried. "He's stolen the map of Fairy-land!" She started toward the door where a group of miners were assembled, but Mrs. Carter grasped her arm. "Di," her mother protested, "you can't go. You must be dreaming, my dear." "But he took the map, mama," DI insisted. "Do catch him. I saw him do it." "How did you know who It was?" her mother demanded. She had no wish to see a tragedy en- acted even If the map had been stolen, and she was not sure of that as yet. "I don't know how, but I knew I" Di asserted posi- tively. "It was Yerber!" "How could you tell that? It was too dark to see his face, wasn't It?" Mrs. Carter argued. She had noted that at Di's first words, a number of the men outside had left, and it was easy to guess their errand. "Of course I couldn't see his face, but I'm per- fectly certain," Di declared. "He wanted the map. He thought he could tell from it where that treasure he told us of was hidden. That's what he meant, mama, when he was talking to us tonight." "Still, that does not prove It was Yerber," Mrs. 266 Diantha's Quest Carter maintained stubbornly; but she went over to the wall, and made certain that the gayly colored drawing Di prized was missing. "That Yerber done fell in love with that li'l con- traption o' Miss Di's/' Uncle Toby contributed to the argument "He was powerful interested in it when I was a-layin* the table tonight." But Mrs. Carter, feeling that although the man might be a thief he had not merited death, protested at naming him without absolute evidence, and would have minimized his offense. So they were still argu- ing when the men who had been searching the camp returned with their report. "We can^t find Yerber, high or low," said one of them, speaking to Mrs. Carter. "But don't you worry, ma'am. This camp don't mean to have its ladies lose their beauty sleep, and when we catch Yerber we allows he won't disturb you none in the future." "But we can't be sure it was Mr. Yerber, even if he isn't here," Mrs. Carter reiterated. "My daugh- ter cannot be positive who it was without -having seen his face." "Well, ma'am," the miner answered, "this Yer- ber is the only member of this camp who was here at sundown and ain't here now. We, o' course, understands your delicate feelin's and we calculate to give him a fair and impartial trial. All we have to do is to call a miners' meeting. After that he'll be strung up, neat and proper. We don't aim to A Torn Map 267 have no pilferin' goin' on hereabouts, and I guess we know how to stop It." Nothing Mrs. Carter could say altered the deci- sion of the miners. Not one of them had the slight- est doubt in his mind as to who was guilty, and they cried loudly for Yerber's extermination. A number of parties were out on the various trails in search of him, and it was freely predicted that he would be found before sunrise. One after another the indignant men disappeared until Mr. Brand and Sam were the only ones who lingered. "The boy and me can roll up in our blankets and sleep outside the door. Mis' Carter," Brand pro- posed, "if it will make you easier in your mind." But Mrs. Carter replied that this was unnecessary, and, while she and Mr. Brand argued the point, Sam and Di talked over the night's events. "He certainly was fooled," Di insisted. "He thought the Emerald Mountains were real emeralds, I suppose." "Well, I dunno," Sam remarked, with a puzzled shake of his head. "Maybe we're the ones that are fooled. It might be the secret map of a buried treasure." "Sam," laughed Di, sceptically "you're right, it might be. But it is a copy of the old map in Virginia. Father has told me about it hundreds of times since I was so high." "That's all right," Sam agreed. "I guess you 268 Diantha's Quest know what you're talking about; but why was that Indian we met back on the trail so talkative when he saw it? He didn't know anything about Emerald Mountains, I guess. And it ain't the first try Yer- ber's had for it, from what you told me." "You mean the time he searched our wagon back in St. Jo?" Di asked, and Sam nodded. "I remem- bered that myself tonight," Di went on. "When you think of it, a man wouldn't risk hanging for a pair of gloves, would he?" "No, he wouldn't," Sam agreed, "but if he saw a way of putting his hands on a treasure — ^well, that might be different." "But, Sam," Di said, wrinkling her brow, "how could he have known I had the map then? It was after Uncle Toby had caught him looking at it to- day that he came to mama and me. I can under- stand that." " 'Course I don't know," Sam admitted, "I'm only guessing; but I think there is a treasure map that this man's heard of. Perhaps your father had it and Yerber knew him, so he searched your wagon for it." Di's eyes widened and she looked at Sam, quite fascinated. "I wonder if you're right?" she drawled specula- tively. "I wonder if there was something about that map I didn't understand? If so, he^s won!" She held up the carved stick upon which the map had been rolled. "This is all I have left. When he A Torn Map 269 took It from the wall I snatched at it and held on, because I didn't mean him to escape with it. I held tight too! I must have, for when he threw me aside the map tore off the thongs that held it to the stick. See ! There's just one scrap of the parch- ment left." The two regarded the torn fragment for a mo- ment in silence before Sam got up and followed his father out. "Good-night," said Mrs. Carter, "or rather, good- morning. Do go home and get what sleep you can, and please, Mr. Brand, use all the influence you have to dissuade the men from following Mr. Yerber. What he took was just a toy, of no value Whatever. Don't let's waste time over him. It's not worth while." After the Brands had departed Di spoke to her mother of Sam's conjectures. "It may be after all that the map was valuable," she said. "It would explain a lot of queer things if it was." "Di, my dear," her mother returned, "if some- one wrote down an imaginary location and painted it pink, blue and green, with a little yellow thrown in for good measure, and labeled it 'the pot of gold buried by the fairies at the foot of the rainbow,' you and Sam would want to mount Polka Dots and be off to hunt for it tomorrow. You're incurably roman- tic. Are you quite sure the Yerber man didn't hurt you? If so, be off with you to bed." 270 Diantha's Quest "You called the thief Terber', yourself," Di pointed out, "yet, if I do, you won't allow it for a minute." "That's strictly entre nous,'' Mrs. Carter ex- plained. "Even if the man is a petty thief I don't think he has earned capital punishment. I fancy he will be punished enough if he goes with a map of an imaginary land to hunt for an* imaginary treasure." "Yes, but suppose he finds a real treasure?" Di grumbled, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her fists. "If he does, it won't injure us," Mrs. Carter said calmly. "We're not likely to hear of it, and we cer- tainly would never have found it for ourselves." "Mother," said Di, "I wouldn't be as reasonable as you are for the world. You're a darling but oh, dear, you're so sensible! I can't see how you ever get any fun out of things. Good night 1" CHAPTER XXIII SOURBALL WALKS IN THE next day saw Uncle Toby added to the list of Yerber's implacable -enemies, for the thief had made his escape on Snowflake, the last and most petted of the Angel mules. "I don't keer what you say, li'l Miss," the old man declared obstinately, "I don't hold with hangin' a man for stealin' a boss, but when he takes Miss Di's little contraption, what her heart was set on, and my white mule, what was just like one of the fambly, I'm^a-goin' to he'p pull the rope if they catch him/' Yerber, however, was not caught, and as the rainy season drew near and neither Sam nor his father had found anything that remotely resembled a for- tune, the Brands held many anxious consultations in their 'little shack. "When first I knew DI," Sam said one night, pro- ducing *his well-thumbed guide book, "she said *a store is more«of a gold mine than a gold mine is,* and she proved it out of this very book, where it was talking about fortunes that was made here.'' He went over the figures that had seemed so elo- quent to Di for his father's benefit. 271 272 Diantha's Quest "Now my idea Is this," he continued. "WeVe got Dots, and weVe got one horse left, and we know what's needed in the mines. Let's go down to the Bay and as soon as the wet season is over we'll stock up with goods and pack 'em in to camps where fhey will 'be willing to give high prices for them." "Do you think that will pay, Sammy?" Mr. Brand asked cautiously. "If it don't we can try our luck at minin' again," Sam answered sturdily. "The only thing is who's going to take care of Mis' Carter and Di if we go away?" "I'll talk things over with Mis' Carter," said Brand. "She's the most reasonable lady I ever saw. Perhaps I can persuade her to go to the Bay with us. There'd be ten chances of hearing of her hus- band there to one here, and she must have a little dust put by now." "It would a-been a lot easier to get there if Yer- ber ha?dn't taken her last mule," Sam grumbled. "I don't just see how we're all goin', with only your old horse and Dots." "Dots sure is a worthless animal," Mr. Brand averred, but Sam would not rise to such a bait. "She's just the best pony in the whole of Cali- forny!" he declared. "And I .tell you what. Dad, I don't see why I can't take a little trip around the South and find that rancho where Mr. Carter was for so long, while you're hunting up goods at the Bay." Soui^ball Walks In 273 "What good would that do?" Mr. Brand asked. "You don't speak Spanish, barrin' a word here and there that you picked up from some of the greaser miners." "I don't care," said Sam stoutly. "I'd find some- thing-out if I went there. For instance, a gentleman like Mr. Carter didn't just ride away, careless, with- out leavin' an address. You can be quite sure some- one there knew where 'he went. Only the express agent, not having a personal interest, didn't take the trouble to locate that hombre." "It sounds like you might be right," Mr. Brand acknowledged, "though two or three times I've wondered if perhaps Mr. Carter wasn't dead. It's mighty funny for a man to disappear this way in a civilized country." Not long after this conversation Sam found Di on a grassy bank near a little brook. "Why aren't you working, Sam?" she called, his cheery whistling having warned her of his approach. "My claim's petered out!" he declared, throwing himself on the grass beside her. "Got about thirty- four cents worth yesterday and a dollar fifteen the day before, — and I worked -hard "too." "What are you going to do? Take up another claim?" Di asked. This news was not unexpected. She had known for some time that both Sam and his father had reason to feel discontented with their earnings. "Dad's talking to your mother about that now," 274 Diamtha's Quest Sam said, then interrupted himself. "Look, Di, if you squint along the grass stems you'll see a rainbow over the spray beside the brook.'' "I know," Di nodded. "Before you came I was wondering if I made a quick snatch*that way whether I mightn't be lucky enough to knock off an elf's cap, so that it would have to give me a wish to re- gain it." "You might try it," suggested Sam idly. "Maybe I will," said Di, "but not yet. They're just beginning to be visible, dancing in the sunlight. Their clothing is more delicate than butterflie«' wings. I think it is silk made out of spiders' webs and dyed with the juice of flowers. They're good little fairies, and kind. I can see that in their faces. If I could only tell them my wish without scaring them away I'm sure they would give iit to me." "Are they so easily scared?" Sam asked. He liked to hear Di elaborate on her fancies. She never failed to stir his imagination, so that if he did not see all she talked of at least he wished he could and his eyes were open to much that was lovely which otherwise he would have missed. "To be sure they're easily frightened," Di went on. "They love to be admired and feel real for a while. So many people hurt their poor little feel- ings by refusing to believe in them, you know, that when they see a strange mortal their first idea is to run and hide." "What are they doing now?" Sam asked. Sourball Walks In 275 "See for yourself," returned Di, making way for him to look along the tunnel through the grass. "They're dancing in the sun at the foot of the rain- bow." As she spoke she scrambled to her feet and ran to the brook side. "Is this part of anyone's claim?" she asked ex- citedly. "No," said Sam, bewildered by the sudden change of mood and subject. "At least, Dad and I located here and prospected all up this brook when first we came. We didn't find enough dust to pay for a — ." "We're going to dig here !" Di interrupted. "I've always heard of the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow, and mother was making fun about it last night, so now we're going to find it and show her." When she wished to, Di could always make Sam do as she commanded. To be sure he had had his fill of mining, but if Di said he must dig, dig he would. He only asked to be allowed to go after the nec- essary tools, which Di would not permit. "This isn't miner's gold we're looking for," she explained, dragging at a bush as she spoke. "This is fairy gold. If they wish, the elves can put it right here under our noses." As she finished speaking the roots came out of the ground with a jerk and she went over backward. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?" asked Sam anxi- ously, when she picked herself up laughing. "Not a bit," she answered, "and very lucky that 276 Diantha's Quest I landed on the grass instead of in the brook. Oh, Sam, look I" she exclaimed, pointing. In the hole left by the roots of the bush lay a nest of nuggets ! "Here's the fortune you wished for," she said, quite calmly. "I knew you'd find it sooner or later." "You knew Fd find it?" cried Sam. "What did I have to do with finding it? It's yours! I wouldn't touch a pin-point of it." "Very well then," said Di, "you can cover it all up again. I can see the stakes of your location, and you're very much mistaken if you think I'm going to rob you." She picked up the uprooted bush, put it back on the nuggets and turned away, her head held very high. Never perhaps had Sam and she been so near a real quarrel; but the boy followed her and plucked at her sleeve. "See here, Di," he said desperately, "don't be so touchy. It isn't that I don't want to be beholden to you; but fair is fair! You need money worse than I do. I've put by a lot, even if it isn't an everlastin' fortune such as I expected at first, and Dad and I are planning to take your ma and you with us to the Bay. Dad reckons you're much more likely to find your pa from there ; but money will be needed to take you there, and to live. This strike seems to me right down providential." "Of course," said Di, "It's my fairy god-mother. Sourball Walks In 277 She always helps me out when I really need her. Al- right, Sam, I'll take half if you will." From this stand nothing would move her. Claims along the brook were staked out in her name, in her mother's, in Uncle Toby's and both Brands. Then the public were let into the secret of their strike and there was a stampede for the brook, which was soon staked for its entire length. But Di's find was the only one of any consequence. When fully opened up it proved to contain nearly ninety pounds of gold, in nuggets ranging from five ounces down. But it was a large pocket and nothing more, and after some weeks of feverish digging all were obliged to confess as much. "I told you all along it was the pot of gold buried by the fairies at the foot of the rainbow," Di re- minded Sam, and all in all this was as satisfactory an explanation as was made of their discovery. However it established both families in an easier financial position, and Mrs. Carter was delighted to avail herself of Mr. Brand's escort to the coast. Once there, it was hard to restrain Di's impatience, but it was determined to wait till the end of the rainy season, which had now begun, before trying to seek out the Buenos Aguas Rancho under Sam's escort. Their first impression of San Francisco Bay was of a forest of masts. Anchored there in the harbor were four hundred vessels of every description. Some entirely deserted, most of them without crews, but 278 Diantha's Quest with their captains still aboard in command of empty ships. The town itself presented almost as curious an ap- pearance. There was every variety of habitation from canvas tents and knock-down houses to sub- stantial dwellings. And these were inhabited by every variety of the human race. Chilefios, rubbed shoulders with East Indians and Chinamen, French- men with Germans or Turks. All were there on the same errand. All expected to be rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Returned miners with their bags of gold and little scales added to the fever. The hotels were usually more gambling house than hotel. Altogether it was the last town in the world that Mrs Carter would have selected as a place to bring up her young daughter. But there they were and there, for the time, it was expedient that they should stay. However prices were so extravagant that if they did not wish their new-found fortune to melt like sugar in water it was necessary to arrange some plan of existence, and finally Mr. Brand bought two knock-down houses which he, Sam and Uncle Toby erected side by side. The ladies had the larger house, which was also used as living room and kitchen, and they lived there much as they had in the camp. Water was a luxury, but during the rains this difficulty was not so press- ing. The streets, however, were well-nigh impass- able. The mud seemed bottomless and the side- walks which had been made of bales of Chilean Sourball Walks In 279 flour, tierces of tobacco, cook-stoves and such mer- chandise gradually sank deeper and deeper into the ooze. "Look what I done found," Uncle Toby remarked unemotionally one evening, ushering an extraordin- ary figure into the room where Sam and Di, under Mrs. Carter's tutelage, were doing lessons in the lamp light. Mr. Brand, vastly impressed by such erudition, had been listening to what was going on under pre- tense of reading an old Philadelphia newspaper, which he had bought for two dollars from a man who had used it for packing. At Uncle Toby's words he looked up sharply. "A Dutch Charley!" he exclaimed, not recogniz- ing the new comer. Nearly every large camp had one character such as now stood before them. If there happened to be two in the same camp they were deadly rivals. And all of them were known as **Dutch Charley." Over a broad white waistcoat, covering a com- fortable protuberance, hung no less than four gold watch chains. Looped over his neck and shoulders and around his waist hung long festoons of nuggets linked together with copper wire. The very buttons on his coat and the studs in his shirt were of gold. In such a corpulent and opulent figure it took Di's quick eye to discover their gaunt old friend Sour- ball. 280 Diantha's Quest "It's Mr. Ball," she cried. "I mean Mr. Deitz, mama." "I done foun' him," Uncle Toby remarked pessi- mistically, "with one leg down a stove-hole, a-yell- in' as if he was killed." "I thought I was," Sourball declared. "It isn't my idea of a joke to throw away all the stove-lids out of the sidewalk on a night as black as this. I made sure I'd broken my leg." "What I want to know," said Uncle Toby severely "and that's the reason I brung him here, is what he's done with my little mule? It wasn't the best little mule I had, but it was a lot better than no little mule at all." "Come in and sit down, Mr. Deitz," Mrs. Carter said, hospitably, "and tell us all about yourself. We don't need to ask if you've prospered. We can see that for ourselves." "I suppose that machine of yours was a grand success," Mr. Brand suggested. "Mind you," Sourball, said ponderously, as he took the indicated chair, "I'm not prepared to say that the principle of that machine was wrong. No sir ! I do not go as far as that and sometime when I have leisure, I intend to devote myself to perfect- ing it ; but for the present I employ Indians to de- velop my claim and their methods are primitive, very primitive." "Where you done got my little mule?" Uncle Toby murmured. "That's all I'm askin' you." Soufball Walks In 281 At his words Sourball turned upon him with an impressive clashing of chains. "I have all three of your mules safely stabled here in town/' he said. *'Do you want them tonight? Or can you wait until morning? Remember the stove lids are off/* he added in warning. *Tou have all three of our mules!" cried Di, who had been silent unbearably long for her and was fairly bubbling over with questions. "For good- ness sake, how did you get them?" "I met the Cronins at Sutter's," Sourball explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "Cronin is employed there as a teamster. They missed you by no more than a day or two, it seems. I came on a little later and told them I was on my way here to find you and return your mule, and they asked me to bring the one they had along. Cronin will be glad to buy it if you want to sell." "Sell my little mule !" Uncle Toby snorted indig- nantly, sotto voce. "How is the Cronin baby?" Mrs. Carter asked. "It's thriving," Sourball declared. "It's mother says It will beat them all in a year or two." "But where did you get the third mule?" Brand inquired. "That's the thing that's puzzling me." "I won it," Sourball said, a trifle shamefacedly, "playing cards, if you must know, though I'd not like you to think I'm a gambler, Mrs. Carter. I look on it as a vice; but I came down from Sutter's by way of Sonoma and Bodega, and at Bodega I met 282 Diantha's Quest a man named Yerber. You probably never ran across him, but he was captain of a fast train called the BidwelFs Bar Express that I trailed along with for a few days." "We know him," Mrs. Carter murmured. "When I got into Bodega the two mules began to whicker and bray, and another mule answered them. I went and looked it over, and it didn't take me long to make sure that it was your lead mule. So I natur- ally expected Vd find you there. But there was only this man Yerber, who claimed that the mule was his. He said he'd won it in a game with some Mexi- cans, and perhaps he had; but if so it was the only thing he had won, for he was cleaned out complete- ly." Deitz stopped and looked around for con- firmation or denial of Yerber's statements. "Go on," Mrs. Carter urged. "Your story is very interesting." "It seemed to me," Sourball resumed, "that it would go farther to show my gratitude than any- thing else I could think of, if I could bring in your whole team and give them back to you in good condi- tion; but do you know that man wouldn't sell? not for any price ! However, he was a crazy gambler. I told him I was no card-player, and after that he simply wouldn't let me alone. He came to me that night when I'd actually gone to bed. *You want that mule ?' he said. Well, get up and I'll play you for it !' And in the end I played with him and won." Deitz paused to consider the effect of this on the in- Sourball Walks In 283 terested faces gathered around him. Then he re- sumed, fumbling in his pocket. "The man told me he had a secret map of a great treasure. ^IVe tried for it and I can't locate it/ he said. *There was a piece torn off the map that must have had the points of the compass on it, but Til play you for it and per- haps you'll make out better than I have.' So I played him and I won this, too. It was what they call ^beginner's luck' I suppose." He threw down on the table before them the torn map of Fairy-land. "It's a curious thing," he continued, "but I can't make head or tail of it." It did not take long to put Sourball in possession of the facts of the case, and his pleasure in Di's de- light at the return of her plaything was almost pathe- tic. It was evident that he had a genuine regard for the Carters, who had befriended him in his need, and when he rose to go neither his grotesque finery nor his new-found pomposity concealed the real friendliness he felt for them. Promising to come again next day and restore his beloved mules to Uncle Toby, he took his leave ; but paused in the doorway to speak to Mr. Brand. "You said the second street to the left had side- walks made of cases of goods?" he asked. "Maybe you wouldn't mind setting me on the right road? I don't want to break my other leg in a stove-hole." "Sammy will go with you," Mr. Brand said lazily. He wanted to talk Deitz and his big strike over with 284 Diantha's Quest the ladles ; so Sam, feeling rather ill-used, set out to act as SourbalFs guide. However he was to be rewarded, for the door had hardly closed behind them before Deitz laid a hand on the boy's arm and led him out of possible earshot. "I wanted to ask your father; but, if you can't tell me, you can ask him for me. Do you think Mrs. Carter and her daughter would be pleased if Cap- tain Carter found them?" Sourbairs question left Sam gasping. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, half indignantly. "How do you mean *found them' ? It's them that's lookin' for him." "I wonder,^* Deitz remarked knowingly, putting a finger beside his nose and tapping his cheek reflec- tively. "I should say they were running away from him. Anyway I thought I'd find out, and if Mr. Carter's presence isn't agreeable to the ladies, why they could take a ship to Panama without his ever knowing. I've plenty of gold! Plenty!" He jingled his chains to emphasize his meaning. "See here," cried Sam, now so utterly bewildered that he reverted to his earlier belief that Sourball was crazy. "The ladies ain't runnin' away from nothin' nor nobody. Mr. Carter was here in Cali- forny, and so they came too." "Now that's where you're all wrong. Mr. Carter wasn't in California," Deitz asserted positively. "He was in the east. He told me so himself, so it's plain they were running away from him. He followed SouAall Walks In 285 along, but lost track of them away back, and what I want to know is, do I tell him where they are, or don't I?'' Sam snorted indignantly. "Do you mean to say you know where Mr. Car- ter IS and didn't tell 'em?" he questioned explosively. "Sure I didn't," Deitz replied blandly. "I owe Mrs. Carter and her daughter a heap more than I can ever pay them. I'm grateful to those ladies, and you don't catch me handing them over a hus- band they don't want." "But they do want him!" Sam burst out. **Here, you turn around and go back with me. You'll find out quick enough whether they want him or not. They'll be wild with joy. At least Di will. Mis' Carter I guess will be mighty glad, too, only she won't make so much fuss about it. You come on." In his excitement Sam had grasped Deitz by the arm and whirled him around in his tracks. "Hold on, sonny," Deitz protested, holding back. "Don't you be in such a hurry. You think you know all about it, but do you? How can you account for them traveling out here when he wrote them specially that he was going east to see them? Let's hear you explain that." "It don't make any difference whether I can ex- plain it or not," Sam insisted, again grasping the man's arm and trying to pull him toward the house. "I know that the Carters are looking for Mr. Carter 286 Diantha's Quest every way they can think of. You tell me where he is. I'll do the rest." "Well," Deitz said thoughtfully, "I know where he was yesterday, but I can't be sure he's in the same place today. He was planning to strike out for some rancho down south a ways." "Then we must stop him!" Sam cried excitedly. He was appalled at the thought that Mr. Carter might disappear again. It seemed that if such a thing happened they might never be able to find him. "So-o ! But if it's just the same to you, I'd rather talk it over with your father before I do anything," Deitz was still unconvinced. "I'm mighty grateful to Mrs. Carter, and — ." "We'll get Dad at once," Sam interrupted. While there was a possibility that Mr. Carter had left town it might be better not to say anything to the ladies until his whereabouts were ascertained. If indeed he had gone Sam meant to mount Polka Dots at sun-up and ride after him, but meanwhile he would be glad of his father's advice. "You go into our bunk house and wait," he went on, giving Mr. Deitz a push in that direction as he hurried away. CHAPTER XXIV SAM*S WISH COMES TRUE DI WAS awakened next morning by the sound of whistling. She opened her eyes to find the sun shining brightly. It was a jewel of a day such as once in a while glorifies the wet season in California. "No one but Sam could whistle like that/* she thought sleepily, and then began to wonder if the boy might not be able to make money out of this gift of his. There was a wandering fiddler named John Kelly who was reported to earn more gold dust playing for the miners than most of those who paid him ever made. But suddenly the girl caught a new note in Sam's music that made her sit up, broad awake. Surely he was calling to her! His tune seemed to cry, "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!'' And in a jiffy she was out of bed and dressing hastily. "What is it, Sam?" she asked, the moment she put her curly head out of doors. "Do stop that noise. You'll wake mama." "It's time she was awake !" Sam declared reckless- ly, letting out another piercing note. "Everybody ought to be up on such a wonderful morning as this," 287 288 Diantha's Quest "Sam Brand, what has gotten into you?" Di questioned in amazement. "Has Mr. Deitz given you a share in a new strike?'* "Better than that,'' Sam announced. "I've got my wish, Di ! I've got my wish ! It was a little slow in coming but it is here at last." "That mysterious wish ! So now you can tell me what it was? I've been awfully curious. — " "You'll know soon now," Sam interrupted. "Any minute in fact." He had led her on as he spoke until they stood at the corner of the street. "Look that way and you'll see it coming!^' he cried, no longer suppressing his excitement. One glance was enough for Di and she was off like an arrow from the bow. Missing stove lids were nothing to her. She fairly flew over the sidewalk until she threw herself into the arms that were ready to receive her. "Papa ! Papa !" she half sobbed. It was a wonderfully happy party that assembled for breakfast that morning, with Uncle Toby hov- ering over the table and brushing imaginary specks off Mr. Carter's coat to show that he had not for- gotten his duties. Mr. Brand and Sam had wanted to breakfast elsewhere, but the Carters had insisted on their presence. "This family is never going to be parted again," Mr. Carter said positively. "My wandering days are over. I've found a place that I am content to Sam's Wish Comes True 289 live and die in. Other people call it the Buenos Aguas Rancho, but I call it Fairy-land. IVe only one worry now in all the world. As you didn't get my letters of course you never got the map I sent you." "Oh, yes, I did," said Di surprised. "How can that be?" asked her father, wrinkling his brow, and addressing Mrs. Carter. "A letter, saying I would shortly come east for you, and money were in the package with the map." "There was nothing in it but the map when we got it," Mrs. Carter averred. "After all that's the important thing now," Mr. Carter said. "Let me have it, Di." Di obediently brought it from a side table where she had thrown it the night before. "I'm sorry it got torn," she said. "It's not hurt much. It happened when Mr. Yerber stole it." "When Yerber stole it?" her father repeated as if he could not believe his ears. "What in the world do you know of Yerber?" Everybody started to explain at once, but stopped when Mrs. Carter said "You remember, Di, he told us that was only a nickname. Yerba Buena Cy, he said he was called." "Well, just because he said so, Fm quite sure it was not true," Di exclaimed. "You see, papa, he had gloves that I'd embroidered for your birthday long ago, and he pretended he bought them because the initials were his own." 290 Dian-tha's Quest Once more everybody began to talk until Mr. Car- ter raised a protesting hand. "Please, please! One at a time,'* he said. "Fm used to Di's ways, so suppose you let her tell me how and where you came across Yerber. As a mat- ter of fact her guess is good, because the man is just Jake Yerber and he stole those gloves when we sent him to the Bay with letters for the out-going mail." Di made short work of the story, and Mr. Carter held up the map half sadly. "It's too bad the rascal kept the only part of it that was worth anything," he said. "He didn't keep any of it," Di declared, surprised. "He kept the stick upon which it was rolled," Mr. Carter explained, but Di shook a positive head. "Oh no," she said, "he never had that. I snatched it away from him, that's how the map got torn." "Have you still got it?" her father cried, "be- cause, if you have, the Buenos Aguas Rancho is ours." "I have it safe," Di answered him. "How is that stick so valuable?" Mrs. Carter asked. "Let us have no more mysteries, Charles." "It's a record made in Indian fashion," Mr. Car- ter explained, "of the hiding place of a very rich treasure. I had gone to San Diego, on business of importance for the hidalgo, when a rumor came that American soldiers were about to descend upon the rancho. Judging them by the Mexican soldiery with Sam's Wish Comes True 291 whom he had had to deal, the old gentleman and one Indian servant, a trustworthy man, gathered to- gether all his money, plate and jewels, which they rode off with and buried." "That's what the Indian told us!" Sam could not forbear whispering excitedly to Di. "When I returned the final show of resistance to the Americans was over, but it did not fit with the old man's pride to live in the country of his con- querors, so he determined to go to Spain, where he had sent his only son some time before because he was not altogether safe under Mexican rule." Di nodded, remembering J. B. Smith's story. "Meanwhile the old gentleman had come to regard me as another son," Mr. Carter went on. "I was very anxious, not having heard from you, so he sug- gested that I escort him to New York and then go to look for you. Crossing the Isthmus, his old ser- vant died, but he and I got safely over and I saw him leave for Spain before I began my hunt for you. The day he sailed he told me that he proposed to deed the rancho to me, only trusting to my honor, to find the treasure and forward it to him. The old Indian was dead. The tally-stick held the only reli- able record of the hiding place, as I knew the hidalgo memory to be very faulty, but when he described the stick to me I remembered that I had picked it up from his writing table where I was at work and, un- conscious of its value, had used it to mount that map I had made for you." 292 DIantha's Quest "Was it Yerber who took my map to mall?'* DI asked puzzled. *'Why do you suppose he sent It to me at all if afterward he wanted it enough to try to steal it?" "IVe been turning that over in my mind," her father replied, "and this is the conclusion I have come to. Yerber had an easy life at the rancho and meant to come back to us ; but he was always a gam- bler and in San Francisco, or before he got there even, he had perhaps lost all his own money, so he opened the package, took out the money it contained and sealed the package again, intending to swear by all he held sacred that its contents must have been stolen after it left his hands. Then he either played cards till it was gone or used the money to buy supplies to take him to the gold fields. I remem- ber we explained his non-return by the fact that he was in San Francisco when the first big strike was reported and had probably been taken with a bad case of gold fever. Having sent the map off, it may have occurred to him, too late, that it contained the record of the buried treasure; because naturally it was an open secret about the rancho that the plate and other valuables had not walked off on their own legs." "Of course that's exactly what did happen," said Di, a light breaking in on her, "for it was Yerber himself J. B. Smith saw, and it was my package that he opened." Sam's Wish Comes True 293 When Smith's letter had been produced and read no doubt of this remained. "Oh, dear," sighed Di, "Fm afraid its going to be very hum-drum to settle down and learn to be a young lady, after all that I've been doing for nearly a year; but I suppose Sam and I will have to study like mad to make up for lost time." Sam looked at her with his mouth a little open. In all the rejoicing that had gone on around him he had been conscious of a tiny ache because it seemed to mean that he and these friends were soon to part, perhaps not forever, but at least that things would never again be on the same footing between them. "It'll be harder work studying alone," he said at last with a sigh. "Sam Brand, that's the meanest thing you ever said!" Di cried, flushing crimson. "You don't in- tend to leave us now, do you? You always pre- tended that what you wanted most was an educa- tion, and here's your chance. If you go off hunting for more gold I — I'll never forgive you!" There were tears in her eyes as she stopped speaking and she turned to bury her head on her father's shoulder, while he looked over the beloved red curls smiling at Sam. "You can't get out of it, young man," he an- nounced. "You wanted an education and now you're forced to have one, so you may as well be resigned. Mr. Brand," he went on, turning to Sam's father, 294 DIantha's Quest who was very silent in such elegant company, "there's a place waiting for you on the rancho. Come down and look us over; then, if you think you'd like to have another try in the gold fields, there will be nothing to stop you ; but you've none of you seen the real California yet, the California of golden sun and golden fruit and golden flowers ; better than all of the hard gold ever dug out of the ground. When you've once seen it you will all love it as I do and never want to go away again!" "It must be Fairy-land," Sam Brand thought as he saw in Mr. Carter's eyes the same, far-away, dreamy look he had so often noted in Diantha's. "You know, Di," he said to her a few days later when they were busy preparing for their journey to the Buenos Aguas Rancho, "I've discovered some- thing." "Gold?" asked the girl. "Better than that. I've a fairy god-mother," he announced triumphantly. "Oh, of course. I always said you had," Di de- clared in her most matter-of-fact way. "But I know a lot about my fairy god-mother. More than most people do," the boy went on. "I can tell you just what she looks like." "Really!" exclaimed Di in surprise. "What is she like?" "Well, for one thing," Sam drawled slowly, "she's got red hair !" Sam's Wish Comes True 295 "Nonsense, Sam!" laughed Di, catching his mean- ing. "Fairy god-mothers don't have red hair; but if one of them did," she continued with mock sever- ity, "she would much prefer that you called it au- burn." ..« IS DTJE ON THE LAST DAXx. •^«^°°^8T^EDBELOVr — :r"r.F 25 CENTS AN INITIAL FINE OF ^^^ ^„ „^ubn '^ ^ Ae?SESSED FOR ^^' -uE PENALTY d .HC«64-\roO ON THE SEVENTH U.V DAY AND TO $1° ^^^_^ OVERDUE. TOm933 FEB-«' 1^4 'iv! ^B 33142 501981 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY