CHAPTER XXIII

SONORA JACK

“But here is the amazing thing--Sonora Jack knows more about these two old prospectors and their partnership daughter than even you know.”

When he saw that he was discovered, the man who was watching Hugh Edwards came leisurely forward. At the same instant Hugh thought that he glimpsed another figure farther away on the mountain side.

The stranger explained his presence in the neighborhood by saying that he was hunting and had wandered farther from his camp than he had intended. For nearly an hour he and Edwards visited in the manner of men who meet by chance in the lonely open places. Then with a careless _adios_ he went on his way down the cañon.

When Hugh, at the close of his day’s work, went up to the cabin, Natachee was not at home. But when the white man had finished his supper the Indian appeared, coming in his usual silent, unexpected way. As he set about preparing his own supper, Natachee said:

“You had visitors to-day.”

Hugh was too accustomed to the red man’s uncanny way of knowing things to be in the least surprised at his companion’s remark.

He answered indifferently:

“I had a visitor.”

“There were two in the neighborhood,” returned Natachee. “I saw their tracks just before dark.”

Hugh told how only one man had talked with him but that he thought he had caught a glimpse of another.

“That was the Lizard,” said Natachee. “I would know his tracks anywhere. I have seen them often. His right foot turns in in a peculiar way and his boot heels are always worn on the inside.”

Hugh Edwards caught his breath.

“Do you think they were----“

“After you?” Natachee finished for him. “I can’t say yet. It might be. What was the man who talked with you like?”

Hugh described the stranger.

“Medium height, rather heavy, black hair, eyes very dark, a Mexican, or at least part Mexican, I would say.”

“Did he ask many questions about you?”

“No more than any one would naturally ask.”

“Did he show any curiosity about me?”

“No, you were not mentioned. He said he was hunting but he seemed to be rather interested, too, in prospecting and mining, and asked a lot of questions about the country up here as if he had a general idea of the lay of the land but was not exactly sure.”

Natachee said no more until he had finished his supper. Then, going to a corner of the cabin at the head of his bed, he pulled up a loose board in the floor, and from the hiding place took a revolver with its holster and belt of cartridges.

Offering the weapon to the astounded white man, he said with a meaning smile:

“I brought this for you from Tucson last fall. But, considering everything, I thought that it might be just as well for you not to have it unless some occasion should arise. I am going to leave you for a little while. Until I return you must keep this gun within reach of your hand every minute--day and night.”

Hugh took the weapon awkwardly.

“Do you know how to use it?” asked Natachee sharply.

The other laughed.

“Oh, yes. I know how, but I couldn’t hit a flock of barns.”

“You must carry it just the same,” returned the Indian. “But don’t do any practicing. Keep your eyes open for any one who may be prowling around and don’t let them see you if you can avoid it. This stranger may be a hunter or a prospector--he may be an officer--he may be something else. I shall know before I see you again.”

Taking his bow and quiver of arrows, the Indian went out into the night.

* * * * *

For two days and nights Hugh Edwards was alone. Then Natachee returned.

When the Indian had eaten, with the appetite of a man who has been long hours without food, he said:

“The man who talked with you is called Sonora Jack. He is a half-breed Mexican; his real name is John Richards.

“For several years this Sonora Jack, with a band of Mexicans and white outlaws, operated in this section of the Southwest. They rustled cattle, robbed trains, looted banks and stores, and held up everybody they chanced to run across. With their headquarters somewhere south of the line, it was not so easy for the United States authorities to capture them, but after a particularly cold-blooded murder of a poor old couple who were traveling by wagon through the country, the officers and the people were so aroused that Sonora Jack, with a large reward on his head, moved on to other less dangerous hunting grounds. It is generally believed that he went south somewhere in Mexico.”

“But are you sure that it was this same Sonora Jack that called on me?”

The Indian smiled.

“As sure as I am that you are Donald Payne.”

Hugh Edwards flushed as he returned coldly:

“Please don’t forget that Donald Payne is dead.”

“That depends,” retorted Natachee dryly.

The white man did not overlook the Indian’s meaning. For a time he did not speak, then he asked:

“But what has brought this outlaw here to the Cañada del Oro?”

Natachee’s face was grave as he answered:

“The Mine with the Iron Door.”

Hugh Edwards uttered an exclamation.

“You mean that he has come to look for the lost mine?”

For several minutes the Indian did not reply, but sat as if lost in thought, then he said, as one reaching a grave decision:

“Listen--I will tell you exactly what I have learned. It is of very great importance to us both.

“This Sonora Jack, with a Mexican who I am quite sure is a member of his old band, first appeared in the Cañada del Oro several days ago. They came in by the Oracle trail and called on Doctor Burton and his mother, telling them that they were prospectors. I have talked to the Burtons and they do not dream of the real characters or mission of the two strangers who camped at Juniper Spring.

“Apparently Sonora Jack and his companion met the Lizard, for they moved down the cañon and are now living with the Lizard and his people. The Lizard seems to be helping them with his supposed knowledge of the country. Sonora Jack has a map, crudely drawn, and evidently very old. Under the drawing in one corner is written:

“‘La mina con la puerta de fierro en la Cañada del Oro’--The mine with the door of iron in the Cañon of the Gold.”

Again Hugh Edwards uttered an exclamation of astonishment.

“But how in the world do you know all this?” he demanded.

The Indian explained.

“In the Lizard’s house the table is close under one of the windows. While Sonora Jack and his Mexican and the Lizard were looking at the map and trying to determine the exact location of a certain gulch that was many years ago filled by a landslide, I also looked.”

“But those dogs,” cried the white man, “they were ready to eat me one night when I happened to call there.”

“You are not an Indian,” Natachee returned calmly. “Bows and arrows make no sound. The Lizard will be short of dogs until he has an opportunity to steal some new curs.”

“Fine!” said Hugh.

Natachee continued:

“I not only saw their map, but, as it happens, there is a little place under the sill of that particular window where the adobe wall has crumbled away from the wood, and so I could hear what was said as clearly as if I had been sitting at the table with them.

“The Lizard told them all about the Indian who is commonly supposed to know the secret of the lost mine. Some of the things he said I rather think you would agree with. He also told them a good deal about you. He knows you only by the name of Hugh Edwards, but I must say that some of the things he reported were not what you might call complimentary.”

“I imagine not,” returned Hugh.

Again Natachee, for some time, seemed to be weighing some matter of greater moment than the things he had related; while the white man, seeing the Indian so absorbed in his own thoughts, waited in silence.

“There was something else that Sonora Jack and his companion talked about,” said Natachee, at last, “something that I cannot understand.”

Then looking straight into the white man’s eyes he asked slowly:

“Will you tell me all that you know about Miss Hillgrove and her two fathers?”

Hugh Edwards drew back and his face darkened. The Indian saw the effect of his words and raised his hand to check the white man’s angry reply.

“I understand your thought,” he said calmly. “But I assure you I am not amusing myself at your expense. It is for your interest as well as for mine that I ask.”

Believing that the Indian was speaking sincerely, even though for some reason of his own, and prompted by his alarm at this mention of Marta, Hugh asked:

“Am I to understand that Miss Hillgrove was discussed by this outlaw and his companions?”

“Yes,” said Natachee. “The Lizard told Sonora Jack all that he knew and perhaps more. I am asking you so that we may know how much of the Lizard’s story is true.”

In a few words Hugh related how the Pardners had found Marta when the girl was little more than a baby.

When he had finished the Indian said:

“I knew the story in a general way and the Lizard told it substantially as you have. But here is the amazing thing--Sonora Jack knows more about these two old prospectors and their partnership daughter than even you know.”

Hugh Edwards was speechless with astonishment.

The Indian continued:

“When the Lizard first mentioned Miss Hillgrove’s name, it was in connection with you, and Sonora Jack only laughed and made a coarse jest. But when the Lizard went on to tell of her relationship to Bob and Thad, the outlaw was so excited that he almost shouted. He asked question after question--her age--how long she and the Pardners had been in the Cañada del Oro--where they came from--everything--and as the Lizard answered, the outlaw would translate to his Mexican companion, who was as excited as Sonora Jack himself. And when the Lizard had told him all he could, the two talked together in Mexican a long time. I cannot repeat all that was said but Sonora Jack cried many times: ‘It is the same girl, Jose, the very same--Jesu Cristo! what luck--what marvelous luck!’

“One thing is certain--this outlaw in some way expects to make a fortune through the old Pardners and their girl. I do not know how. But Sonora Jack said to the Mexican that whether they found the lost mine or not, their coming to the Cañada del Oro was certain now to make them both rich.”

“Is it possible,” asked Hugh, “that Thad and Bob were one time in any way mixed up with this Sonora Jack?”

“I thought of that,” returned Natachee, “and the next day I watched to see if the outlaws went to the Pardners. They did--they spent nearly two hours talking with Miss Hillgrove and her fathers. Then they went with Thad and Bob down to their mine, leaving the girl at the house. They were with the Pardners over an hour.”

* * * * *

Hugh Edwards was greatly disturbed by what Natachee had learned. His first fear, that the stranger who had talked with him was an officer, was as nothing compared with his fear now for Marta. All night he pondered over the situation with scarce an hour of sleep. When morning came he told the Indian that he was going back to his old cabin to be near the girl--prison or no prison.

“But can’t you see what a foolish move that would be?” asked Natachee. “The Pardners know who you are. If they have been, in the past, connected with Sonora Jack, which is very possible, they will turn you over to the sheriff in short order to protect both the outlaw and themselves. If that should happen either through them or through any one else, you certainly would be in no position to help Miss Hillgrove. You do not even know yet that Miss Hillgrove is in danger. Sonora Jack will do nothing until he has satisfied himself about the lost mine, which brought him into this country at the risk of his life. You can depend on that. While he is searching for the mine I may be able to learn more of his interest in the Pardners and their girl. Be patient or you will spoil everything.”

And Hugh, because he felt that Natachee for the time being was his ally, listened to his advice. The white man did not deceive himself as to the real reason for the Indian’s interest in the situation. Nor did the red man make any pretenses. But even at that, Hugh felt that he would be better able ultimately to protect Marta, if for the present he fell in with the red man’s plan to learn the exact nature of Sonora Jack’s interest in the girl.

All that forenoon Natachee did not leave his cabin. But after their noonday meal he followed Hugh down into the gulch where, for a long time, he sat on a rock watching the white man at his work. Then he went back to the hut on the mountain side above.

When Edwards, a little before sunset, climbed the steep way from the place of his labor up to the cabin, the Indian was gone.

No second glance was needed to tell the white man that the cabin had been the scene of a terrific struggle.