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lovely place near Leap" he pronounced it Lep "a village called Glandore, and a
true spot of heaven it is, with a long inlet coming in from the sea.
"Where the water comes in it is like a river's mouth, and there's islands
across the opening of it that break the force of any waves. The inlet runs
back a few miles into the low green hills, as safe a harbor as one would wish
for.
"Many an Irish lad took off from there to go abroad, either to find his
education or to go to war with foreign soldiers. Sure, there was little to do
at home, with the British permitting no schools, nor any way for a man to
advance unless he walked in their steps. I'm not saying the British were a lot
of criminals for what they did ... in their place we might have done the same.
"Mort's family was a good one, and an old one. They kept from the sight of
the British, and they lived well and set many a traveler to their table, and
many an Irish son returning from the wars, and the bards too. Mort grew up to
stories of wars in foreign lands.
"The British dinna often come to the west of Leap in those days. They had a
saying, 'Beyond Leap, beyond the law,' and there was something to it, you can
believe me. There were some rough lads in those parts, and a Britisher might
ride the roads in peace by day, and get his skull bashed once the dark had
come.
"Had the times been right, Mort O'Callaghan would have been lord of a manor
or a castle, but as it was he flew away with the wild geese, and somewhere
along the way he dropped the O from his name and became simply Callaghen.
"You might not think it, ma'am, but he's a finely taught man, with a
knowledge of the classics, the law, and much else. He got his grounding in the
classics from the hedgerow schools that were taught in the darkness of night
with sentries out, a teaching that was without pen or paper, but by the ear
only, in most cases."
It was crowded in the small corral, and in the afternoon Ridge, Becker, and
Spencer led the horses out to graze on the grass in the hollow. The two
stage-company men held the horses on lead ropes while Spencer scanned the
hills to watch for Indians. TheDelaware and MacBrody did the same.
After an hour of grazing in which no Indian was seen, the horses were
returned to the corral.
"I don't think they're out there," Wylie grumbled. "I think we're scared for
no reason."
"They are out there," theDelaware said quietly, "and some of them are, close
by. I think some of them can hear what we say."
"Nonsense!" Wylie replied. "There's no sense in our being cooped up here. We
could go on."
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Callaghen ignored him, but he was wondering just how far Wylie intended to
go. And where? And who was he to meet when he got there?
He thought of the copy of the map he himself had ... what about that? After
all, a lost mine belonged to the finder. And even a little of that gold would
be enough to buy a ranch or establish himself in some city or town.
It was worth a try.
Chapter 14
THE SUN WAS hot, and there was not a breath of wind. Overhead the sky was
clear and blue; across the valley the black range tantalized him with its
unknown possibilities. They saw no Indians. MacBrody paced the corral
irritably. "Where's your lieutenant, Callaghen? Where is he? Where could
twelve men disappear to?"
"In this desert?" Wylie remarked. "You could lose an army out there."
"I'd like to have a look from up there," MacBrody said, glancing up at the
mountain that rose above them. It was not high, something a man might climb
quite easily in a matter of minutes, but there might be Indians up there even
now, watching them. A man would be exposed to fire from the rocks around.
"You've got time," Callaghen said. He had been longing for a look from that
peak himself, but he hesitated, not liking the thought of climbing up there
with Indians around. "Have they ever tried a shot at you from there?" he asked
MacBrody.
"Once. Three of us took dead aim at him when he showed himself, and we blowed
the top of his head off. They ain't tried it since."
Callaghen got a government map from the blockhouse and studied it. It was
roughly drawn, but everything seemed to be fairly definitely located. A dotted
line indicated theGovernment Road to the east. It crossed the valley and
disappeared into the Mid Hills, throughCedarCanyon . Beyond lay Government
Holes andRock Springs . According to his information, the valley farther along
was freely sprinkled with Joshua trees, and beyond that, in the rocky hills,
was Fort Piute or Pah-Ute, as most of the desert men called it.
Mentally, he placed his copy of the Allison map over this one, and it did not
fit.
Whoever had drawn the Allison map had drawn everything from some point to the
east, looking at the country with no true realization of which was north,
east, south, or west ... or perhaps he had done so deliberately. As no
particular point was located, it seemed to him that oral instructions must at
one time have accompanied the Allison map.
But the high mountains yonder were located, and also the Mid
Hills.CedarCanyon was not named, nor were the mountains named. The isolated
peak some ten miles to the northeast was clearly indicated, and so were
theKingstonMountains further north. A flat-topped mountain south of Government
Holes was also drawn with care, and a spring behind it.Rock Springs was on the
map, but no trails were indicated at all.
There were no words on the face of the map, but there was something about the
way the pen had been handled that inclined him to believe that had there been
words they would have been in Spanish. It was an old map that Allison had a
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very old map.
One thing was obvious. If there was something to be found it must be found
somewhere behind those mountains opposite, aroundTableMountain , or in the
Kingstons far to the north, and that was quite a spread.
"Looking for something?" It was Wylie, who had come up close to him, and was
craning his neck to see what he was looking at.
"Studying a way out," Callaghen replied. He nodded toward the east. "We can
see quite a bit of the road toFortMohave yonder. Once around that mountain, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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