'Yu can bet on both them reasons an' still lose,' Sudden told him. In the afternoon, Malachi, alone, sick and oppressed by the intense heat, and not conscious of where he was going, wandered out into the basin, and suddenly saw the world go black. When he recovered his senses there was a familiar taste in his mouth, and a voice he knew was speaking:
'That's better, Doc. Burn my soul, but I thought you was cold meat. Take another sup o' corpse- reviver.'
A flask was held to his lips and tilted. He took a big gulp, and the fiery spirit steadied his shattered nerves and cleared his vision. He was in the basin, sitting with his back against a small boulder, and Bundy was kneeling beside him.
'Stupid of me--must have fainted--touch of the sun,' he muttered.
'Shore, might happen to anyone,' the foreman agreed. 'But what in hell are you doin' up here? Thought I was dreamin' when I clapped eyes on you.'
The liquor, working on an empty stomach, was muddling the medico's mind, but he had a hazy idea that he must not tell the truth. 'Just taking a little vacation, Bundy,' he replied. A happy thought occurred to him. 'I've always wanted to shoot a big-horn.' He pushed away the proffered flask.
'Oh, come, Doc, it ain't like you to refuse good liquor, an' this is good--some o' Ben's best of bourbon--not a headache in it. You know the stuff.'
Malachi did--too well. He heard the swish of it against the glass, the pungent smell assailed him as the foreman removed the cork, and his whole being thirsted for it. His hand, trembling, came out.
'Just--one small sip.'
'Drink hearty,' Bundy replied generously, and whether the doctor heard or not, he obeyed.
This further dose completed the job, the drunkard's eyes glazed a little, and his voice thickened as he said, 'Thanksh, Bundy, but what bringsh you to 01' Cloudy?'
'Same as yoreself--takin' a holiday,' Bundy grinned. 'Trenton wanted his niece to see the country, an' I had to come along.'
Malachi blinked at him owlishly. 'Mis' Tren'on here? Thash wrong; no place f'r lady. Have to shpeak to Zeb when I shee him.' He hoisted himself to his feet. 'Mus' go now. Goo'bye.
Staggering and stumbling through the sand, he reached the gorge, and, in the shade of a bush, lay down and slept. Atthe evening meal, when they were wondering what had become of him, he walked in, his face deathly white, hands shaking.
'Dan, I've done an unpardonable thing--betrayed you,' he began, in a harsh, unnatural voice, and not sparing himself, told his story.
They listened in silence, and then Dan said, 'So they are here. How many?'
'I have no idea; I was too drunk to try and find out any- - thing,' Malachi replied miserably. 'All Bundy said was that Miss Trenton is with them.'
Dover stared. 'Did you say Miss Trenton?' he asked. 'Zeb must be loco to drag a girl into this. If he fancies her presence will help him, he'd better think again.'
'Worth while gettin' acquainted with this place--we may have visitors in the mornin',' Sudden said, and as he passed Malachi, added, 'Don't yu fret, Doc, we all make mistakes, an' they were bound to find us sooner or later.'
The doctor looked at him dumbly; these men were beyond his comprehension. He had failed them--terribly, perhaps destroyed their hope of success, and instead of reproach, there was only a calm acceptance of the situation, and a readiness to face it. He shook his head.
'I'm just a cheap Judas, who has sold his friends for fifty cents'. worth of whisky,' he said moodily. 'And I'm a poor fighter, Jim.'
'Shucks! the man who never lost a battle ain't been born yet,' the puncher consoled.
With the help of blazing pine-knots, they carried out an inspection of the cavern, to the apparent concern of thousands of bats in the dark dome above, but no indication that any human being had ever before set foot there rewarded them. Sudden was curious about the back of the cave, where the walls and roof closed in leaving only what seemed to be the mouth of a tunnel leading into the bowels of the earth. The floor was fairly level, as were the walls, but it was clearly Nature's handiwork. Probably, he conjectured, many thousands of years ago, it had formed a channel for a great volume of water.
Anxious to know whether it provided another exit, he went on and had proceeded something less than two hundred yards when an intuition of danger caused him to pull up sharply and hold his light lower. His nerves were in perfect condition, but what he saw sent a shiver up his spine. A stride from where he stood yawned a gap in the floor, about twelve feet across, and extending from wall to wall. He knelt on the brink, moving the torch to and fro, but could only see that the sides of the abyss were perpendicular, and hear, from far below, the rumbling roar of a racing torrent.
'An' I nearly walked into it; fools for luck,' he soliloquized, as he turned to retrace his steps. 'I must warn the boys that this ain't no way to run.'
Chapter XVII
Bundy, having watched his drunken victim out of sight, hurried with all speed to his own camp, and called his employer aside. His cunning eyes were alight with triumph.
'Boss, I got news--big news,' he cried. 'I've found out where them Circle Dot dawgs is holed up. They never come this way a-tall, they just tricked--'
'Never mind that,' the rancher said impatiently. 'Where are they?'
'The other side o' that hollow, right opposite to here.'
'Have you seen any of them?'
'Yeah. Come across Doc Malachi.'
Trenton regarded him with disgust. 'You've been drinkin', dreamin',' he sneered.--'Damnation, I'm tellin' you the truth,' Bundy raged. 'Don't strain yore system,' the other said acidly. He was in a bad temper; they had lost the trail, and this fool had raised hopes only to dash them again. 'Get on with the fairy tale.'
The foreman swallowed his wrath, and explained. Trenton listened to the end, still only half-convinced.
'Malachi,' he muttered. 'Why should he be with them?'
'Claimed he was takin' a holiday--to get a sheep,' Bundy jeered. 'Wanted me to believe he was alone.' He laughed. Trenton did not join in the mirth; the presence of the doctor seemed to worry him. As he turned away, he said, 'Well, if what you say proves to be correct, it will add, maybe, a hundred dollars to yore share, my man.'
He did not see the grimace of hate this patronizing speech produced, nor hear the hissed words: 'Throw yore chicken-feed to them as needs it, you stingy of buzzard; I'm helpin' myself, an' be damned to you.'
When Garstone, who had been riding with Beth, returned, the rancher told him of the foreman's discovery.
'Good,' the Easterner said. 'We'll pay them a visit in the morning. You got that paper all safe?'
'Do you think I'm dumb enough to bring it here?' Trenton enquired satirically. 'No, sir, it might get into wrong hands. I played safe, an' destroyed it, after learning the contents.'
Chesney Garstone concealed his chagrin only by an effort. 'My God, you took a; risk,' he said. 'If you should--die ...'
'The secret would be lost. I appreciate yore anxiety, but would that matter to me?'' The big man forced a smile. 'I suppose not, but--
'I have a niece. True, but I'm a selfish man, an' I don't care two flips of a cow's tail what happens in this world after I've left it,' was the callous reply.
There was a great deal of low-toned conversation that evening round the men's fire. The foreman could not keep his achievement to himself, though he took care to make clear that it was due mainly to his sagacity, and not--as in fact--to blind chance.
'So now, thanks to me, all we gotta do is walk in an' collar the plunder,' he concluded.
'Have to locate the Cache first, ain't we?' Lake wanted to know.
'No trouble a-tall,' Bundy assured him. 'The 0I' Man has a paper givin' exact directions, which is somethin' them other guys ain't got, or they'd 'a' bin off by now.'
'Sounds good,' Rattray remarked casually.
