The Legend of Miner's Creek (8 page)

“Tyler isn't coming?” Nancy asked.

“No, he's busy researching,” Rachel explained. “And Charlie doesn't like to ride that much anymore.”

“Move 'em out,” Pete called when everyone was ready. He stood by the barn and watched as the horses headed up the retreat driveway toward Miner's Creek.

Rachel led the way to a shallow place in the stream, where the horses stopped to take a drink, then waded across. Within minutes the group was climbing into the hills toward Prospector's Canyon, where Jeremiah had found the gold-laced quartz.

Nancy's horse quickly passed the others, except for Rachel's mare.

“Heather likes to lead,” Rachel said.

They rode side-by-side until the trail narrowed. Then Nancy went in front. Nancy was enjoying the spectacular view as the trail wound around the side of a steep cliff when she suddenly heard a strange buzzing sound. At the same moment she felt her horse tense. The palomino snorted and reared. Nancy found the saddle horn just as the mare's front legs came back to the ground. Heather jumped sideways, almost losing Nancy, and her back legs slid off the side of the trail. Fighting down panic, Nancy looked down and saw Heather's back hooves scrambling in the loose dirt and rocks of the steep bank. Below them the mountainside dropped away to rocky cliffs. Nancy knew she had to stay in the saddle and hope that Heather could fight her way back onto the trail. If the mare failed, they would both tumble over the cliffs!

Nancy leaned forward, close to her horse's neck. The shift in her weight was just the help that Heather needed. The mare scrambled back onto the trail, but Nancy quickly realized the danger was not yet over.

On the trail behind her the other horses were close to panic. The buzzing sound seemed to grow louder. Then, with a scream, Bess pointed to the trail ahead.

A burlap bag was lying on its side in the middle of the trail. It was moving and writhing like a living thing, inching its way down the trail toward them. The top of the bag had been tied shut, but a small opening remained. A large snake was halfway out of the bag, wriggling to free itself.

“It's full of snakes!” Bess screamed.

“Rattlesnakes,” Rachel said grimly.

Nancy's horse was prancing and jumping, once again coming dangerously close to the cliff.

Calmly Rachel ordered everyone to turn their horses around. The group started back down the trail.

Finally Nancy steered a frightened and shaky Heather to a safe clearing at the base of the cliffs.

“Rachel, I'd like to know what's going on here,” Frank Kauffman demanded angrily when they had all settled their horses. “That was a very dangerous stunt someone pulled.”

Shirley had dismounted and was helping Aaron from his horse. The little boy was frightened, and he looked as if he might burst into tears.

“You can't blame Rachel for this,” Nancy told Frank. “Why would she sabotage her own trail ride?”

“You know that's right, Frank,” Shirley said gently. “She couldn't have known those snakes were there.”

“I guess not,” Frank said, frowning. “But I'd like to get my hands on whoever did this.”

“So would I,” Rachel agreed in a weak voice. Her face was pale, and Nancy could see her hands shaking as she toyed with the bridle reins.

Nancy guided her horse next to Rachel's. “I think someone's trying to keep us out of Prospector's Canyon,” Nancy whispered.

Rachel looked startled. She had been too concerned about her guests to consider the reasons for the prank. “But why?” she asked.

“I don't know,” Nancy said grimly. “But there's only one way to find out. Is there another route into Prospector's Canyon?”

“Yes, but it's longer. The trail isn't kept up very well, but the horses have been on it before.” As she spoke, a look of determination came over Rachel's face. “I'm sure we can make it, Nancy,” she added. “Let's get to the bottom of this.”

Nancy and George nodded, but Bess seemed reluctant to face any more danger. She listened hopefully as the Kauffmans and the Smythes announced that they were heading back to the barn.

“Maybe you should go back to the retreat, too, Bess. If you don't mind, I mean,” Nancy said. “Maybe you can find out who might have gotten up here this morning and planted those snakes.”

“I guess I could do some more detecting,” Bess said, sounding relieved. She turned her horse back toward the retreat.

“And tell Pete and Granddad about the snakes,” Rachel called after Bess.

The trail that Rachel, George, and Nancy followed wound through the forest. The girls had to duck under low-hanging branches of trees that grew close to the trail. The horses trotted along an old logging road for part of the distance. Rachel pointed out a side road that led past Maddie's hospital, then back to the road leading to town.

The trail wound back to Miner's Creek, and the rushing water made it difficult for the girls to hear
one another talk. Nancy was surprised that the same stream that flowed gently through the meadow could have so much power in the mountains.

Finally the trail turned away from the stream and passed through a quiet clearing.

“This is a good place for lunch,” Rachel announced, jumping off her horse. “We have one more steep climb before we get to the canyon.”

Nancy and George dismounted, and the three girls quickly ate a lunch of roast beef sandwiches, corn chips, and lemonade.

“Eat all you want,” Rachel told them. “Elsa and I fixed enough for the whole camp, and I didn't think of sending any of it back with the others. I guess I made more work for Elsa. She'll probably fix a second lunch for everyone now.”

“I'm sure she'll understand, if we can solve this mystery and end all the problems at the retreat,” Nancy said. She hoped they'd find something in the canyon to make their trip worthwhile.

The girls hurried through lunch and mounted their horses again. After a short, rocky climb the trail wound back to the stream and the mouth of a narrow canyon.

Below them the stream cascaded down a rocky slope in a series of small waterfalls. At the top of the falls a large, rocky crag stretched skyward.

“That rock looks like a sand castle,” George said, shielding her eyes against the sun as she looked up. “It even has little points at the top.”

“That's exactly what I think it looks like,” Rachel agreed. “I call it Castle Rock. It guards the entrance to Prospector's Canyon.”

The canyon had high, steep sides covered with trees and mountain grasses. At the bottom the stream was once again calm and peaceful. Twisted trees stood like sentries next to small, quiet pools.

Near the creek was a broken chute. Rachel explained that the chute had once been used by prospectors to wash sand.

“It's called a sluice box,” Rachel told Nancy and Bess. “It works just like a pan, but it can wash more sand at a time. The miners put sand in one end and let the water wash it down. Black sand and gold would catch behind the ridges on the floor of the chute. Then the miners could collect it easily.”

“Is this how Jeremiah mined?” George asked.

“No. Whoever built this chute was a ‘placer miner,' ” Rachel answered. “Placer miners looked for bits of gold that had broken loose from the main deposit and washed down here. Jeremiah was a ‘hard rock' miner. He would have searched the hillsides for the source of the gold—the mother lode.”

Nancy got off her horse and examined the chute carefully. “It doesn't look as if it's been used for years,” she said. “And I don't see anything here that anyone would want to keep hidden.”

“Me, neither,” George agreed. “Why do you suppose someone was so determined to keep us from coming here?”

“There must be something,” Nancy said. “Let's ride a little farther.”

After climbing back on her horse, Nancy let Heather lead the way along the creek. Soon the brush and trees gave way to a combination of rocks and gravel, with only a small tree growing here and there. The open hillside led up to a wall of rocky cliffs. Nancy immediately spotted several fresh holes in the graveled soil.

“Someone's been digging!” Rachel exclaimed.

“Look how the holes seem to make a pattern on the hillside,” George added. “They make rows, both up and down and across.”

“As if someone's looking for something and following a pattern to cover all the ground,” Nancy said.

She tied Heather's reins to a tree and walked up the hillside. The holes were about two feet deep. She was soon joined by Rachel and George.

“Do you know what we're looking for?” Rachel asked.

“No, but there's got to be something more here,” Nancy replied. “I'm sure of it.”

She was searching through a thick growth of bushes near one of the holes when she caught a glint of metal. Carefully Nancy uncovered a large pick and shovel and a small leather pouch.

“I've found something!” she called to the other girls. Rachel and George gathered around as Nancy opened the pouch and removed a piece of notebook paper with an outline of the hillside drawn on it.
Lines crisscrossed the picture, with X's drawn where each pair of lines came together.

“I bet there's an
X
for every hole dug on the hillside,” Nancy said.

Rachel took the picture and counted the holes in the row closest to them.

“I think you're right,” she said.

“Someone must be looking for Jeremiah's gold,” Nancy said.

“But who? And how are they getting out here without being noticed?” Rachel asked, handing the paper back to Nancy. “The only trails that lead here are the two that we took today. They both start right by the lodge.”

“But what about the logging road we followed?” Nancy reminded her. “Didn't you say it passed by Maddie's bird hospital?”

“That's right,” Rachel said. “And then it runs into the road to town. I guess that means anyone could have come up that way.”

Nancy and George exchanged glances.

“I hope you two don't think Maddie's in on this whole thing,” Rachel said, kicking a rock in frustration. “I'm telling you, she's not like that.”

“I think we should talk to her, anyway,” Nancy said. “Maybe Maddie's seen something.”

“I guess a visit would be a good idea,” Rachel said finally. “I can take you over tomorrow morning.”

“Good,” Nancy said. “Let's leave things just as
we found them. And not a word to anyone about our being here.”

Nancy replaced the pouch in the bushes, and the girls headed down the hillside. Neither the gravel of the hillside nor the hard, dry soil of the trail held any footprints. Nancy was sure that whoever had been mining in the canyon would not be able to tell they had been there.

When the girls cantered their horses up to the barn, they quickly dismounted, eager to get some dinner. Walking up to the lodge, they found Bess waiting on the porch. Nancy could tell from the way her friend was fidgeting that she had news.

“You won't believe what I found out!” Bess said excitedly. “I think I've solved the mystery.”

“You mean, you know who's been doing all the damage at the retreat?” Nancy asked in surprise.

“That's right,” Bess said, grinning with satisfaction. “And one of them is in the lodge right now, talking to Charlie in his office.”

Nancy, Rachel, and George exchanged glances as they walked into the lodge. Charlie's office opened onto the balcony, overlooking the main room where the girls were standing. Nancy considered leading everyone back to their cabin, where they could talk in private, but Rachel nodded for them to follow her to the kitchen.

“Elsa goes into town to meet her sister on Thursday nights,” Rachel explained as the girls entered the large, empty kitchen. “And Pete always takes the guests to town for a movie.”

Rachel flipped on the lights, and the girls gathered
around a small counter in the center of the room, waiting for Bess to tell her story.

Bess took a deep breath. “Okay,” she began. “It started when we got back early. Pete was unsaddling a horse—a sweaty horse that looked as if it had been ridden hard. And later I saw Pete talking to Tyler by Tyler's cabin. They broke apart as soon as they saw me. I don't know what they were saying.”

Nancy nodded. “It sounds as if those two could be working together. Pete knows the layout of the retreat. He could easily have set up all the accidents, with Tyler's help.”

“Wait, there's more,” Bess said, touching Nancy's arm. “I went back to the barn—just to check on my horse, since I didn't have anything else to do. I was going to give her a handful of grain. But behind the grain can, I found this. . . .”

Bess reached in her pocket and pulled out the piece of gold-laced quartz.

“That's Granddad's ore!” Rachel cried. She took the rock from Bess and held it in both hands. “But why do you suppose it was in the barn?”

Nancy thought for a moment. “Can you tell if any pieces have been chipped off the rock?” she asked. “Maybe someone wanted an assay report on the ore.”

Rachel frowned and turned the piece of quartz slowly in her hand. “It looks the same to me,” she said, handing it to Nancy. “But I'm not sure I could tell.”

Nancy looked at the quartz carefully. There were no signs of scraping or grinding on the rock, but, like many quartz stones, it had so many bumps and angles that it would have been hard to tell if a small piece had been chipped away. She returned the ore to Rachel.

“It doesn't seem to make sense to me that Pete would have taken it,” Rachel said.

Nancy didn't answer. Her impulse was to agree with Rachel, but no one spent as much time in the barn as Pete.