An Ali Baba of the Sierras
Johnny Starleigh found himself again late for school. It wasalways happening. It seemed to be inevitable with the process ofgoing to school at all. And it was no fault "o' his." Somethingwas always occurring,--some eccentricity of Nature or circumstancewas invariably starting up in his daily path to the schoolroom. Hemay not have been "thinkin' of squirrels," and yet the rarest andmost evasive of that species were always crossing his trail; he maynot have been "huntin' honey," and yet a wild bees' nest in thehollow of an oak absolutely obtruded itself before him; he wasn't"bird-catchin'," and yet there was a yellow-hammer always withinstone's throw. He had heard how grown men hunters always saw themost wonderful animals when they "hadn't got a gun with 'em," andit seemed to be his lot to meet them in his restricted possibilitieson the way to school. If Nature was thus capricious with hiselders, why should folk think it strange if she was as mischievouswith a small boy?On this particular morning Johnny had been beguiled by theunmistakable footprints--so like his own!--of a bear's cub. Whatchances he had of ever coming up with them, or what he would havedone if he had, he did not know. He only knew that at the end ofan hour and a half he found himself two miles from the schoolhouse,and, from the position of the sun, at least an hour too late forschool. He knew that nobody would believe him. The punishment forcomplete truancy was little worse than for being late. He resolvedto accept it, and by way of irrevocability at once burnt his shipsbehind him--in devouring part of his dinner.Thus fortified in his outlawry, he began to look about him. He wason a thickly wooded terrace with a blank wall of "outcrop" on oneside nearly as high as the pines which pressed close against it.He had never seen it before; it was two or three miles from thehighroad and seemed to be a virgin wilderness. But on closeexamination he could see, with the eye of a boy bred in a miningdistrict, that the wall of outcrop had not escaped the attention ofthe mining prospector. There were marks of his pick in someattractive quartz seams of the wall, and farther on, a moreambitious attempt, evidently by a party of miners, to begin atunnel, shown in an abandoned excavation and the heap of debrisbefore it. It had evidently been abandoned for some time, as fernsalready forced their green fronds through the stones and gravel,and the yerba buena vine was beginning to mat the surface of theheap. But the boy's fancy was quickly taken by the traces of asingular accident, and one which had perhaps arrested the progressof the excavators. The roots of a large pine-tree growing close tothe wall had been evidently loosened by the excavators, and thetree had fallen, with one of its largest roots still in the openingthe miners had made, and apparently blocking the entrance. Thelarge tree lay, as it fell--midway across another but much smalleroutcrop of rock which stood sharply about fifteen feet above thelevel of the terrace--with its gaunt, dead limbs in the air at alow angle. To Johnny's boyish fancy it seemed so easily balancedon the rock that but for its imprisoned root it would have made acapital see-saw. This he felt must be looked to hereafter. Buthere his attention was arrested by something more alarming. Hisquick ear, attuned like an animal's to all woodland sounds,detected the crackling of underwood in the distance. His equallysharp eye saw the figures of two men approaching. But as herecognized the features of one of them he drew back with a beatingheart, a hushed breath, and hurriedly hid himself in the shadow.For he had seen that figure once before--flying before the sheriffand an armed posse--and had never forgotten it! It was the figureof Spanish Pete, a notorious desperado and sluice robber!Finding he had been unobserved, the boy took courage, and his smallfaculties became actively alive. The two men came on togethercautiously, and at a little distance the second man, whom Johnnydid not know, parted from his companion and began to loiter up anddown, looking around as if acting as a sentinel for the desperado,who advanced directly to the fallen tree. Suddenly the sentineluttered an exclamation, and Spanish Pete paused. The sentinel wasexamining the ground near the heap of debris."What's up?" growled the desperado."Foot tracks! Weren't here before. And fresh ones, too."Johnny's heart sank. It was where he had just passed.Spanish Pete hurriedly joined his companion."Foot tracks be ----!" he said scornfully. "What fool would becrawlin' round here barefooted? It's a young b'ar!"Johnny knew the footprints were his own. Yet he recognized thetruth of the resemblance; it was uncomplimentary, but he feltrelieved. The desperado came forward, and to the boy's surprisebegan to climb the small ridge of outcrop until he reached thefallen tree. Johnny saw that he was carrying a heavy stone."What's the blamed fool goin' to do?" he said to himself; the man'sevident ignorance regarding footprints had lessened the boy's aweof him. But the stranger's next essay took Johnny's breath away.Standing on the fallen tree trunk at its axis on the outcrop, hebegan to rock it gently. To Johnny's surprise it began to move.The upper end descended slowly, lifting the root in the excavationat the lower end, and with it a mass of rock, and revealing acavern behind large enough to admit a man. Johnny gasped. Thedesperado coolly deposited the heavy stone on the tree beyond itsaxis on the rock, so that it would keep the tree in position,leaped from the tree to the rock, and quickly descended, at whichhe was joined by the other man, who was carrying two heavy chamois-leather bags. They both proceeded to the opening thus miraculouslydisclosed, and disappeared in it.Johnny sat breathless, wondering, expectant, but not daring tomove. The men might come out at any moment; he had seen enough toknow that their enterprise as well as their cave was a secret, andthat the desperado would subject any witness to it, howeverinnocent or unwilling, to horrible penalties. The time creptslowly by,--he heard every rap of a woodpecker in a distant tree; ablue jay dipped and lighted on a branch within his reach, but hedared not extend his hand; his legs were infested by ants; he evenfancied he heard the dry, hollow rattle of a rattlesnake not a yardfrom him. And then the entrance of the cave was darkened, and thetwo men reappeared. Johnny stared. He would have rubbed his eyesif he had dared. They were not the same men! Did the cave containothers who had been all the while shut up in its dark recesses?Was there a band? Would they all swarm out upon him? Should herun for his life?But the illusion was only momentary. A longer look at themconvinced him that they were the same men in new clothes anddisguised, and as one remounted the outcrop Johnny's keen eyesrecognized him as Spanish Pete. He merely kicked away the stone;the root again descended gently over the opening, and the treerecovered its former angle. The two hurried away, but Johnnynoticed that they were empty-handed. The bags had been leftbehind.The boy waited patiently, listening with his ear to the ground,like an Indian, for the last rustle of fern and crackle ofunderbrush, and then emerged, stiff and cramped from hisconcealment. But he no longer thought of flight; curiosity andambition burned in his small veins. He quickly climbed up theoutcrop, picked up the fallen stone, and in spite of its weightlifted it to the prostrate tree. Here he paused, and from hiscoign of vantage looked and listened. The solitude was profound.Then mounting the tree and standing over its axis he tried to rockit as the others had. Alas! Johnny's heart was stout, his courageunlimited, his perception all-embracing, his ambition boundless;but his actual avoirdupois was only that of a boy of ten. The treedid not move. But Johnny had played see-saw before, and quietlymoved towards its highest part. It slowly descended under thechanged centre of gravity, and the root arose, disclosing theopening as before. Yet here the little hero paused. He waitedwith his eyes fixed on the opening, ready to fly on the sallyingout of any one who had remained concealed. He then placed thestone where he had stood, leaped down, and ran to the opening.The change from the dazzling sunlight to the darkness confused himat first, and he could see nothing. On entering he stumbled oversomething which proved to be a bottle in which a candle was fitted,and a box of matches evidently used by the two men. Lighting thecandle he could now discern that the cavern was only a few yardslong, the beginning of a tunnel which the accident to the tree hadstopped. In one corner lay the clothes that the men had left, andwhich for a moment seemed all that the cavern contained, but onremoving them Johnny saw that they were thrown over a rifle, arevolver, and the two chamois-leather bags that the men had broughtthere. They were so heavy that the boy could scarcely lift them.His face flushed; his hands trembled with excitement. To a boywhose truant wanderings had given him a fair knowledge of mining,he knew that weight could have but one meaning! Gold! Hehurriedly untied the nearest bag. But it was not the gold of thelocality, of the tunnel, of the "bed rock"! It was "flake gold,"the gold of the river! It had been taken from the miners' sluicesin the distant streams. The bags before him were the spoils of thesluice robber,--spoils that could not be sold or even shown in thedistrict without danger, spoils kept until they could be taken toMarysville or Sacramento for disposal. All this might haveoccurred to the mind of any boy of the locality who had heard thecommon gossip of his elders, but to Johnny's fancy an idea waskindled peculiarly his own! Here was a cavern like that of the"Forty Thieves" in the story book, and he was the "Ali Baba" whoknew its secret! He was not obliged to say "Open Sesame," but hecould say it if he liked, if he was showing it off to anybody!Yet alas he also knew it was a secret he must keep to himself. Hehad nobody to trust it to. His father was a charcoal-burner ofsmall means; a widower with two children, Johnny and his elderbrother Sam. The latter, a flagrant incorrigible of twenty-two,with a tendency to dissipation and low company, had latelyabandoned his father's roof, only to reappear at intervals ofhilarious or maudlin intoxication. He had always been held up toJohnny as a warning, or with the gloomy prognosis that he, Johnny,was already following in his tortuous footsteps. Even if he werehere he was not to be thought of as a confidant. Still less couldhe trust his father, who would be sure to bungle the secret withsheriffs and constables, and end by bringing down the vengeance ofthe gang upon the family. As for himself, he could not dispose ofthe gold if he were to take it. The exhibition of a single flakeof it to the adult public would arouse suspicion, and as it wasJohnny's hard fate to be always doubted, he might be connected withthe gang. As a truant he knew he had no moral standing, but healso had the superstition--quite characteristic of childhood--thatbeing in possession of a secret he was a participant in itscriminality--and bound, as it were, by terrible oaths! And then anew idea seized him. He carefully put back everything as he hadfound it, extinguished the candle, left the cave, remounted thetree, and closed the opening again as he had seen the others do it,with the addition of murmuring "Shut Sesame" to himself, and thenran away as fast as his short legs could carry him.Well clear of the dangerous vicinity, he proceeded more leisurelyfor about a mile, until he came to a low whitewashed fence,inclosing a small cultivated patch and a neat farmhouse beyond.Here he paused, and, cowering behind the fence, with extraordinaryfacial contortions produced a cry not unlike the scream of a bluejay. Repeating it at intervals, he was presently relieved byobserving the approach of a nankeen sunbonnet within the inclosureabove the line of fence. Stopping before him, the sun-bonnetrevealed a rosy little face, more than usually plump on one side,and a neck enormously wrapped in a scarf. It was "Meely" (Amelia)Stryker, a schoolmate, detained at home by "mumps," as Johnny waspreviously aware. For, with the famous indiscretion of some othergreat heroes, he was about to intrust his secret and his destiny toone of the weaker sex. And what were the minor possibilities ofcontagion to this?"Playin' hookey ag'in?" said the young lady, with a cordial andeven expansive smile, exclusively confined to one side of her face."Um! So'd you be ef you'd bin whar I hev," he said with harrowingmystery."No!--say!" said Meely eagerly.At which Johnny, clutching at the top of the fence, with hurriedbreath told his story. But not all. With the instinct of a trueartist he withheld the manner in which the opening of the cave wasrevealed, said nothing about the tree, and, I grieve to say, addedthe words "Open Sesame" as the important factor to the operation.Neither did he mention the name of Spanish Pete. For all of whichhe was afterwards duly grateful."Meet me at the burnt pine down the crossroads at four o'clock," hesaid in conclusion, "and I'll show ye.""Why not now?" said Meely impatiently."Couldn't. Much as my life is worth! Must keep watching out! Youcome at four."And with an assuring nod he released the fence and trotted off. Hereturned cautiously in the direction of the cave; he was by nomeans sure that the robbers might not return that day, and hismysterious rendezvous with Meely veiled a certain prudence. And itwas well! For as he stealthily crept around the face of theoutcrop, hidden in the ferns, he saw from the altered angle of thetree that the cavern was opened. He remained motionless, withbated breath. Then he heard the sound of subdued voices from thecavern, and a figure emerged from the opening. Johnny grasped theferns rigidly to check the dreadful cry that rose to his lips atits sight. For that figure was his own brother!There was no mistaking that weak, wicked face, even then flushedwith liquor! Johnny had seen it too often thus. But never beforeas a thief's face! He gave a little gasp, and fell back upon thatstrange reserve of apathy and reticence in which children are aptto hide their emotions from us at such a moment. He watchedimpassively the two other men who followed his brother out to givehim a small bag and some instructions, and then returned withintheir cave, while his brother walked quickly away. He watched himdisappear; he did not move, for even if he had followed him hecould not bear to face him in his shame. And then out of hissullen despair came a boyish idea of revenge. It was those two menwho had made his brother a thief!He was very near the tree. He crept stealthily on his hands andknees through the bracken, and as stealthily climbed the wedge ofoutcrop, and then leaped like a wild cat on the tree. Withincredible activity he lifted the balancing stone, and as the treebegan to move, in a flash of perception transferred it to the otherside of its axis, and felt the roots and debris, under thatadditional weight, descend quickly with something like a crash overthe opening. Then he took to his heels. He ran so swiftly thatall unknowingly he overtook a figure, who, turning, glanced at him,and then disappeared in the wood. It was his second and last viewof his brother, as he never saw him again!But now, strange to say, the crucial and most despairing moment ofhis day's experience had come. He had to face Meely Stryker underthe burnt pine, and the promise he could not keep, and to tell herthat he had lied to her. It was the only way to save his brothernow! His small wits, and alas! his smaller methods, were equal tothe despairing task. As soon as he saw her waiting under the treehe fell to capering and dancing with an extravagance in whichhysteria had no small part. "Sold! sold! sold again, and got themoney!" he laughed shrilly.The girl looked at him with astonishment, which changed graduallyto scorn, and then to anger. Johnny's heart sank, but he redoubledhis antics."Who's sold?" she said disdainfully."You be. You swallered all that stuff about Ali Baba! You wantedto be Morgy Anna! Ho! ho! And I've made you play hookey--fromhome!""You hateful, horrid, little liar!"Johnny accepted his punishment meekly--in his heart gratefully. "Ireckoned you'd laugh and not get mad," he said submissively. Thegirl turned, with tears of rage and vexation in her eyes, andwalked away. Johnny followed at a humble distance. Perhaps therewas something instinctively touching in the boy's remorse, for theymade it up before they reached her fence.Nevertheless Johnny went home miserable. Luckily for him, hisfather was absent at a Vigilance Committee called to takecognizance of the late sluice robberies, and although thistemporarily concealed his offense of truancy, the news of thevigilance meeting determined him to keep his lips sealed. He layall night wondering how long it would take the robbers to digthemselves out of the cave, and whether they suspected theirimprisonment was the work of an enemy or only an accident. Forseveral days he avoided the locality, and even feared the vengefulappearance of Spanish Pete some night at his father's house. Itwas not until the end of a fortnight that he had the courage torevisit the spot. The tree was in its normal position, butimmovable, and a great quantity of fresh debris at the mouth of thecave convinced him that the robbers, after escaping, had abandonedit as unsafe. His brother did not return, and either the activityof the Vigilance Committee or the lack of a new place of rendezvousseemed to have dispersed the robbers from the locality, for theywere not heard of again.The next ten years brought an improvement to Mr. Starleigh'sfortunes. Johnny Starleigh, then a student at San Jose, onemorning found a newspaper clipping in a letter from Miss AmeliaStryker. It read as follows: "The excavators in the new tunnel inHeavystone Ridge lately discovered the skeletons of two unknownmen, who had evidently been crushed and entombed some yearspreviously, by the falling of a large tree over the mouth of theirtemporary refuge. From some river gold found with them, they weresupposed to be part of the gang of sluice robbers who infested thelocality some years ago, and were hiding from the Vigilants."For a few days thereafter Johnny Starleigh was thoughtful andreserved, but he did not refer to the paragraph in answering theletter. He decided to keep it for later confidences, when MissStryker should become Mrs. Starleigh.
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