The Golden Canyon | Page 9

take us with them on this expedition, Dick."
"I wish they would; it would be a splendid adventure, and we might
come back with no end of gold. At any rate, after being four months
under Collet, I think we have a right to a holiday. I expect they will let
us go with them if you make a strong point of it, Dick."
"It shan't be for want of trying, Tom, anyhow."
The lads had their way. As soon as the three men saw that they were
really bent upon accompanying them, they raised no further objections.
"We shall be glad enough to have you with us," Dave said, "and though
the work will be toilsome and hard, there is nothing in it that two active
young chaps like you need be afraid of. It is just the Injuns--they are the
worst kind, and have always set themselves against gold-seekers. That
is natural enough, for they know that if gold mines were once opened in
their country, the whites would pour in, and they would soon be wiped
out. Anyhow, everyone who goes prospecting in that part of Arizona
knows well enough that he takes his life in his hands.
"All along the country by the Gila River is the stronghold of the
Apaches, the terror of Northern Mexico. Many parties of miners have
set out, but very few have ever come back again; but those that have
tell of gold richer by a hundred times than ever was seen in California,
and have brought with them sacks of nuggets to prove it. These are men
who have had the luck to get in and out without ever having been seen
by the Injuns; the large parties have never succeeded. So you see,
young fellows, the odds are strongly agin you. Still, if you like to go
with us, you are welcome; but if the time comes when the redskins

have got us shut up in some place we can never get out of alive,
remember that you are there on your own choice, and that we had no
hand in getting you into the scrape."
"We will never blame you, whatever comes of it, Dave. If the risk is
not too great for you and your comrades, it is not too great for us. There
is nothing in the world we should like so much as such an adventure."
"Well, that is settled then, and no more words about it. We shall be glad
to have two more with us, and we intended to go alone only because it
is not everyone that can be trusted."
"What do we take with us?"
"We shall each take a horse, and a Mexican pony to carry our food and
traps. If everything goes right and we find a bonanza, we can load them
up on the way back. Twenty dollars will buy a pony here. Then you
will want a critter each to ride. We are not going to get first-rate ones,
for if the Indians come on us it is fighting that we shall have to do, not
riding. Among those mountains no shod horse of the plains has a
chance with those Indian ponies, which can climb like goats and go at a
gallop along places where a horse from the plains wouldn't dare move.
Then you will want rifles and six-shooters. That is about all; I am afraid
our stock of money will hardly run to it, and I think we had better work
for a while in one of the diggings to make up what we shall want."
"We have twenty pounds between us," Dick said, "and we can draw on
our fathers for twenty-five pounds each. The Consul here has, of course,
heard of my being wounded and left behind, and I expect he won't mind
cashing our draft."
"There will be more than we want," the miner said. "Still, it is as well
to be on the right side. If we don't find any gold up there, we shall want
a little when we get back to keep us going until something turns up."
Three days later Dick was strong enough to go with his friend to the
Consul's; they found that Mr. Allen had spoken about Dick, and told
him that should he recover from his wounds, he could cash a draft for
him without any fear. Therefore in half an hour the lads returned to
their lodgings with three hundred and fifty dollars, having changed
their English gold into the currency of the country.
"You have not got your horses yet, I suppose, Dave?"
"No, we shall go up the river about a hundred and twenty miles. There
we shall buy horses cheaper than we can get them here. We have got

rifles and