

### The Ghost of St. Elmo

### The Adventures of Ian and Zack

By

L. Parks Sanford

Copyright 2013 L. Parks Sanford  
Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.

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### DEDICATION

To my wife, whose never-ending faith and love carried me for years. To my son, Ian, you bring me strength; you give much, and take nothing in return. Finally, to Duke...you believed, and I will always be grateful and love you for it. Someday we'll walk the beach, again.

### TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE COLORADO BOUND

CHAPTER TWO FLYING HIGH

CHAPTER THREE SLEEP QUICK

CHAPTER FOUR UNDER ATTACK AT HARTSEL

CHAPTER FIVE HEART POUNDING WITH FEAR

CHAPTER SIX LOST GORGE RANCH AT LAST

CHAPTER SEVEN GHOST TOWN HERE WE COME

CHAPTER EIGHT IF LOOKS COULD KILL

CHAPTER NINE THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT

CHAPTER TEN PHANTOM RIDERS IN THE NIGHT

CHAPTER ELEVEN SECRET ROOM BEHIND THE WALL

CHAPTER TWELVE YELLOW MOCASSINS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN ZACK'S SURPRISE VISIT

CHAPTER FOURTEEN MINE CAVE IN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN SECRET PACT

CHAPTER SIXTEEN UNDERGROUND AND SCARED

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN GOLD! LOTS OF GOLD

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN THE BIG SHOOT OUT

CHAPTER NINETEEN THE GHOST OF ST. ELMO

CHAPTER ONE

### COLORADO BOUND

I jumped out of bed full of excitement about my days ahead. I had been awarded an exchange student Merit Award and was on my way to Lost Gorge, Colorado...wherever that was, for a month. I couldn't wait to go hiking, explore old mines, ride horses and ski. Though my enthusiasm was intense, I knew I would miss my best friend, Zack. I had lived here at the orphanage for as long as I could remember, and Zack and I had grown up together and had shared many an adventure. But, this was one time we wouldn't be together.

"Well, good buddy," Zack said, "Try to stay in the saddle and keep out of trouble."

"I'll sure try," I said as I grabbed my bags, gave him a high five and headed downstairs. Charles was waiting out front with the car and gave me a big smile as I opened the door.

"Good morning, Ian, are you ready to load up?" he asked.

"You bet!" I said, just as the breakfast bell rang. As I loaded my bags, all the guys and girls were running to the dining hall for breakfast and yelling to me to have a great time. I smiled and waved back as I got into the car.

I sat quietly staring out the window of the car as we drove down the long, winding drive. We pulled out onto the highway and headed toward the airport. Pressing my head against the window, I could feel the coolness of the October morning. I counted telephone poles as we sped down the highway, but I soon found out how boring that was. The only exception was sighting a lone hawk perched like a sentinel high atop a telephone pole here and there. My mind told me to be excited about my coming adventure, but my heart was telling me I would miss my friends. Charles, my driver and chaperone, must have read my mind.

"What's the problem, Ian? You're very quiet," Charles asked.

"Oh, nothing," I answered. "I'm just going to miss my friends." I could see a smile on his face in the rear view mirror.

"Look at your trip as a great adventure," he said, "and let your friends live your adventure with you through your pictures and the stories you tell when you return."

"You're right, Charles," I said. Of course he was right.... He always was. Charles was a super nice guy who came by the orphanage often. He was a retired F.B.I. agent who had been wounded in a shoot-out with a notorious gang of bank robbers in Raleigh, North Carolina. After his leaving the service of the F.B.I., he signed on as Chief of Security for Fred Bryant, an old friend of his and owner of a local bank in town. Upon completion of his time as Chief of Security for ten years, Charles now served as a chauffeur, butler and jack-of-all-trades to Mr. Bryant. As I thought about Charles and knowing he would be my chaperone during this trip, my sadness toward leaving my friends was soon replaced with the excitement of things to come.

I never realized Middleton Airport was so far away, but my rear end told me differently. "How much longer Charles?" I asked.

"I'd say about two more hours," he answered. "Are you ready for a break?" he asked.

"If you don't mind, sir," I answered. We pulled over to a little silver diner with a moose head mounted on its roof and proceeded inside for some breakfast. The strong smell of hot grease and coffee, the sound of dishes rattling and waitresses barking out orders seemed like a scene out of the movies. Charles found us a table, and I headed to the restroom to wash up. When I had returned, the waitress had begun filling the entire table with food. "Grab a chair, Ian and dig in while I go freshen up." I started shoveling in eggs, bacon and pancakes.

"Would you like some more orange juice, sweetie?" a voice asked. I looked up to see a heavy lady, her hair wrapped in a bun high on her head and chomping on some gum.

"No, thank you, ma'am," I answered, "but I would like a Coke."

"One Coke coming up," she said with a smile and then rushed off to another table. Charles returned to the table and smiled as he sat down staring at my plate.

"The food must be good, huh, Ian?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, it sure is."

"Here you are, sweetie," the waitress said setting the Coke on the table. "Anything else, gentlemen?" she asked.

"No, that's fine," Charles answered. "Just the bill, please." We finished our meals and headed down the highway once more. All of a sudden things seemed a little bit brighter now. Whether it was the good food or Charles' great company, I wasn't sure.

It seemed as though we drove forever until suddenly I looked up, and the sky was filled with planes. As we continued to approach the airport, the roar of the planes' engines was thunderous, and the sun reflecting off the different colored planes made it appear like a rainbow. As we turned into the airport entrance and up to the terminal, I looked up just in time to see a huge plane flying straight at us. I ducked down in my seat just as the plane pulled up and headed skyward. I could hear Charles laughing as we drove on. "Close call, huh, Ian?" he quipped. I sat back in my seat and gave a little laugh at myself.

"I guess maybe I should get out more, huh, Charles?" Charles looked at me in the rearview mirror and just smiled. We continued to wind our way through different gates and then suddenly veered to the right. I could see a sign that read:

" _Airport Security Only – No Admittance"_ _._

We approached a guard post with two uniformed officers and were stopped. "May I help you sir?" the officer inquired as he peered into our car.

"Could you tell me where I could find Bob Kaiser?" Charles answered as he showed his wallet to the guard.

"Yes, sir," he sharply responded as he snapped to attention. "I'll call Chief Kaiser immediately." I didn't know what Charles had shown the guard, but he seemed impressed, and so was I. Within minutes a black sedan pulled up sporting dark windows and a sign on the side reading:

" _Chief of Security_ _"_

The guard waved us through, and we parked next to the sedan. Almost at the same time, Charles and the driver of the sedan opened their doors and exited. "Well, I'll be. It is you, you old flat foot," he roared.

"Bob, you're as good-lookin' as ever," Charles responded.

"And you lie like a dog," Mr. Kaiser shot back. "Follow me," he continued. We walked toward the black sedan as Mr. Kaiser opened the trunk. "Throw your bags in here, and I'll store your car later or you can follow me." We unloaded everything, careful not to overlook a single item, as we had packed strategically with everything being pretty important. We closed the trunk, and Charles walked over to Mr. Kaiser, as I stood there watching the planes and listening to the roar of engines. This was a totally new world to me. We seldom traveled very far from the orphanage, and I could see what we were missing. I looked out over the parking area below and could see nothing but a sea of cars and traffic coming in and going out. There was an excitement in the air that I had never experienced before, and I only wished my best friend could be here with me.

"Are you ready, Ian?" Charles yelled.

"Yes, sir!" We got into our car and followed Mr. Kaiser in his. As we drove, we passed by huge jets that were so close it seemed as though I could reach out and touch them. "Wow! What kind of plane is that?" I asked.

"That's a sea plane, Ian. Those pontoons on the bottom allow it to land on the water or on land," Charles answered. We continued to follow Mr. Kaiser as he turned into a huge hanger. When we pulled in and stopped, my mouth dropped open. In front of us was an old plane with guns sticking out all over, and men were scurrying about working on its exterior. I looked up, and the hangar ceiling was so high and the windows in it were shining so brightly with the sun coming through that they looked like bright stars in the night sky. We stopped the car, got out and walked toward the plane where Mr. Kaiser was talking to a worker. He turned around, walked toward me, put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"What do you say, young fella, would you like to go aboard?" he asked.

"You bet!" I answered.

"Then follow me," he continued, as we climbed the steps and entered the old plane. My eyes lit up as I looked up and saw a large silver colored gun pointing skyward, enclosed in a glass dome. "Those guns you see around you are 50 caliber machine guns used to fire at enemy planes that would attack them as they flew bombing missions during World War II," he explained. "Go ahead and sit in the gunner's seat." I anxiously sat down and grabbed hold of the gun, pivoted around in the seat firing at phantom enemy planes. I sat there day dreaming, wondering if our housemother, Mrs. Brewer's husband had flown this plane during the war. He was a highly decorated pilot, who unfortunately had been killed. We all could see her sadness and knew how much she missed him. There was a special smell all around me. It was a musty, leathery smell that made me believe I was living in the days these planes flew. I had heard of and read about re-incarnation so maybe I was re-living my days as a famous pilot.

"What do you think, Ian?" Charles asked as he brought me back to reality.

"It's great!" I said, never wanting to leave.

"Okay, fellas, how about a little snack before you take off?" Mr. Kaiser asked.

"What do you say, Ian?" Charles followed. "Are you ready for a fill-up?" I really didn't know how much food I could put down as I was pondering my first flight, but I agreed. We marched off on the heels of Chief Kaiser as he led us through winding corridors, up and down stairs, and finally to a large set of black doors. Chief Kaiser took out a pocketful of keys, inserted one into the door, pushed a button, and it seemed to magically open. As we entered, it was obvious we were in a huge cafeteria, not unlike the one at our orphanage but much larger. There were rows and rows of tables and chairs, the sound of dishes clattering and the strong aroma of cooking food.

"Gentlemen, you are now in the food services center of the airport," said Chief Kaiser. "All employees are eligible to eat here at their own risk, but many don't," he joked with a twinkle in his eye. We found a table and sat down. "Hi ya, Cassie. How's my favorite waitress?"

I looked up to see whom he was talking to, and I knew then...I was in love. She had dark eyes and long, shiny brown hair with a big smile. I was sure that she kept staring in my direction and that her smile was sending me a secret message that said she loved me. She reminded me of Julie Vander, a college student down the road from the orphanage that came with her classmates to play us in baseball games every summer. My best friend and I would push and shove each other to see who could sit closest to her. I always won. "Cassie, these are some friends of mine. They're headed for Colorado. How about getting them a little snack before they shove off?" Chief Kaiser said.

"It would be my pleasure, Chief," she answered, smiling broadly. We gave her our orders, she returned shortly with a Coke and hot cinnamon bun for me and a steaming cup of coffee and a couple glazed donuts for Charles.

"Cassie, you're a real doll," the Chief said. "Put it on my tab."

"You got it," she said. "Have a great flight, gentlemen. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you. We hope so," we both responded. She turned and walked away. I could feel my heart sinking. I knew I was in love. But, it was tough being a kid. She was much older but very beautiful.

"Well, Ian, we better gear up and then head for the terminal," Charles said. "We only have 25 minutes to check our luggage and get to our seats."

"I'll take care of that," the Chief offered.

After eating, we headed off again, wandering the halls, climbing up and down stairs, popping in and out of doors and finally arriving at our destination. "Flight #408 now loading at gate 4B on the north concourse," came over the loudspeaker. We exited an "EMPLOYEES ONLY" door into the crowded and loud terminal. My head began to whirl, and I could feel my excitement building. Soon I would be boarding my first plane. Colorado, here I come!

After saying our good byes and giving our thanks to Chief Kaiser, we boarded our plane. As we entered through the airplane's door a stewardess directed us to our seats...numbers 22A and 22B. Charles asked me if I wanted the window seat, and I replied, "Yes." I slid in first and was surprised at how small and cramped the seats were. We were some of the last to board so our waiting time to take off would be short. I heard a few dings from a bell and looked up and saw a "Please fasten seat belt" sign light up. Charles looked over to make sure I was fastened in, and he smiled.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking. Welcome to flight 408 bound for Colorado Springs. We'll be flying at an altitude of 45,000 feet with an arrival time of 8:35 p.m. mountain time. The weather now is clear and should remain so. So please sit back and have a good flight. Thank you," came a voice over the speaker. I sat back and closed my eyes. I could hear conversations all around me, and wondered if anyone else's stomach was feeling like mine...sick.

"Just take nice deep breaths, chew some gum and try to relax," Charles leaned over and whispered to me. "The first flight's always the toughest." The reassuring squeeze of his hand on my neck seemed to relieve some of my fears, but there were plenty still remaining.

CHAPTER TWO

### FLYING HIGH

"Ding, Ding." I looked up to see the "No Smoking" sign lit up and the aisles emptying as all the passengers and crew settled into their seats and readied for our take off. We started moving slowly as the plane's engines began to roar, and the entire plane started to shake slightly and lurch forward as we rolled faster and faster taxiing toward our takeoff runaway. You could hear the engines speed up and then slow down as we continued to taxi, until finally, we made a sharp right turn and stopped. I got a little braver and pulled up the shade on my window to see why we had stopped. As I did so, I was astounded to see at least five planes going in different directions. They were either jockeying for takeoff positions, had just landed or were already in the air. I rested my head against the window and strained to see what was up ahead of us. I could feel the plane begin to tremble and the engines' roar became deafening. The plane's belly felt as though it was lifting into the air. I could feel the plane's brakes release, and we began to accelerate down the runway faster and faster. As it did so, the vibration and noise became scarier and scarier to me. I looked over to see Charles with his head resting on the back of the seat and his eyes closed. I guessed everything was normal, and I continued looking out the window. We were suddenly lifted into the air, and I could see the ground below getting further and further away. The engines' roar began to subside, and the vibration was hardly noticeable. However, I could see we were climbing very steeply, and I could feel it as I was pushed to the back of my seat. The plane began to level off after a few minutes, and I closed my eyes in relief. As I did, my mind wandered back to the orphanage and my best friend, Zack.

We weren't just good buddies, but we were a team. Zack's family had been killed in a car wreck, and his two aunts were unable to take care of him because they were both disabled. He became a ward of the state and then was sent to Green Acres Orphanage. There were about 60 boys and girls there at the time, but numbers changed quickly due to adoptions and new additions. Zack and I were two of the older kids and, as such, we realized our chances of being adopted were pretty slim. I suppose because of our realization we became each other's own family and best buddies. We had some great adventures together, and I wished we could share this one coming up in Colorado. But, we couldn't. Oh, well. I continued staring out the window until I was forced to close the shade because of a huge fireball of a sun that was blinding me.

"Ding, Ding," the fasten seat belt sign went off, and I happily unfastened mine, as did Charles. "Well, Ian, you made your first takeoff just fine," Charles said. "How did it feel?"

"It wasn't bad at all," I answered, not wanting him to know how I really felt. I had been scared to death at first, but that feeling soon left me. I could hear talking and laughing in the aisle up in front of us, and I peered nosily at what was happening. There were two attendants pushing a cart filled with cans of soda pop and other drinks, joking and serving them to any passengers that wanted them. I was thirsty and waited patiently as they moved up to our seats. I asked for a Coke, and Charles was served up a Gingerale along with which we both received two small bags of peanuts. We settled back in our seats and got comfortable knowing we had a long flight ahead of us. I soon found myself nodding off and rested my head against the cool window.

I must have slept for quite awhile when suddenly I was jolted awake, almost being knocked out of my seat. An announcement from the captain came over the speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some turbulence due to upper air disturbances. Please fasten your seat belts until further notice. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Just a precaution, Ian," Charles reassured me. "We're coming close to the Rocky Mountain range, and you frequently get strong air currents that will move a plane around." I wondered if I had slept that long. The Rocky Mountains...we'd soon be landing, and my adventure would begin. Shortly, the captain came over the speakers again....

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving in Colorado Springs in approximately 25 minutes. We have begun our descent so please keep your seat belts fastened. The weather upon our arrival will be snow flurries and 39 degrees. It has been a pleasure to serve as your captain, and I want to thank you for flying Southwest Airlines. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"You must have been tired," Charles said. "I'll bet you slept at least four hours."

"I guess I was. I can't believe we're here already." Looking out of the window, I could see snow covered highways, dotted with cars and trucks. As we descended closer and closer, the snow flurries became thicker, and the mountains began to rise up and meet us. The engines began their roar once again, and I could feel the plane slow up as if the brakes had been put on. The nose of the plane began to point downward as we banked to the right and began our approach to the runway below. The ground appeared to rush up at us at a rapid pace as we hit with a great "thud," and the sound of rubber tires squealing along the cement runway filled the cabin. Here we were, finally. Colorado...here I am.

CHAPTER THREE

### SLEEP QUICK

We continued heading down the runway at a fast speed, but with the engines reversing, we began to slow. Looking out the window, I could see an assortment of different colored lights illuminating the runways. In the light I could also see huge snowflakes falling, and a light dusting beginning to cling to the blades of grass lining the runways. Snow in October! Wow! I couldn't believe it. Back home we were lucky to have snow for Christmas or New Year's. "Looks like the pilot got the wrong weather forecast," Charles laughed.

The plane slowed noticeably as we began to taxi to the terminal. As we did, the plane made a sharp right turn applying the brakes slowly as we moved along. Charles nudged me with his elbow as we came to a stop. "You made it, Ian," he laughed, "and in one piece." I smiled and took a final look out my window. I could see huge windows and numerous skylights with people scurrying about as they were just arriving or preparing to depart. "Ding, Ding"...the fasten seat belt sign went off. You could hear the clicking sound as people freed themselves; they stood, stretched their legs and began to move down the aisle to deplane. Charles stood up, gave a yawn and reached above to the luggage rack to get our carry-on luggage. "Here you go, Ian," he said, handing me my bag. "We'll go get our luggage and pick up our car."

"What kind of a car?" I asked.

"I thought maybe a Jeep Wrangler would be perfect for a couple of cowboys," Charles answered.

"You bet!" If Charles only knew the excitement I felt inside; I always wanted to ride in a Jeep. Now I would be doing just that all over the Colorado mountains.

"Stay close, Ian. It's very easy to get separated."

Charles turned, and we headed down the ramp toward the baggage carousels to retrieve our luggage. I looked around and saw people in suits, women in beautiful parkas with fur collars, young people, old people, but most impressive to me were all the men wearing cowboy hats and sporting jeans and wearing heavy rawhide jackets. We arrived at the baggage pick up area and stood patiently waiting to retrieve our luggage along with dozens of other people. One by one the pieces disappeared as their owners grabbed them and headed for destinations unknown. Finally, I spotted ours rolling around the corner, and Charles and I headed in that direction. We grabbed hold of all three of our pieces, located a cart to load them on and shuffled off to ACE Car Rental to pick up our Jeep. I was still feeling tired. It must have been the cold weather. "Here we are Ian," Charles said as we stopped at the rental counter, "It'll take a few minutes for the paperwork so why don't you go ahead and sit down and take it easy."

"You don't have to tell me twice," I answered. "I'm still pooped."

The next thing I remember was Charles nudging me on the shoulder and urging me to follow him. "What do ya say, young fella. Let's get some food and a good night's sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"I'm ready," I answered. "Just lead the way." We headed outside and as we exited the terminal, a blast of cold air hit me, and snowflakes began falling on my face. I stood there with Charles in the cold dark silence. We waited for what seemed like forever only hearing the sound of ice beating off my half frozen face. It felt like little needles penetrating as each flake hit my skin. Finally, a dark green Jeep came driving up and stopped in front of us. The driver got out and came over to verify it was ours by examining Charles' paperwork. He gave Charles our copies of the papers we needed to keep, and we began loading our luggage into the back. It was just as I pictured: a canvas top, wide tires with raised, white lettering and the feel of soft leather surrounded me as I sat in the front seat and leaned back. I had already jumped in to get warm, and Charles was right behind. He slammed his door shut, wiped the melting snow from his face and looked over at me. "Let's get some chow, cowboy," he said. "Then we'll head for the old bunkhouse. We've got a big day tomorrow. What sounds good to you?" he asked.

"How about pizza, sir?" I answered. Pizzas were very rare back at the orphanage, and it was one of my favorites. Anytime I had the opportunity I took advantage and enjoyed every bite. Charles shifted into gear, and we headed off driving into Colorado Springs. The snow was falling heavier as we came across Angelina's Pizzeria and pulled into the parking lot.

"Let's hit it, big guy," Charles said. "I need a fill up. How about you?" I was out the door before I could give my answer and headed across the parking lot. Remembering my manners, I paused at the entrance, holding the door for Charles, giving him a big smile.

"Sorry," I said. "I am starved."

The inside was filled with the aromas of spices, sauces, cooking meats and fresh dough that was being rolled, shaped and then tossed. "How about the works?" Charles asked as he glanced over at me.

"Yes, sir," I answered. "That sounds good to me." The girl behind the counter came toward us, smiled and asked for our order.

"One large pizza with the works, but easy on the sauce. What do you want to drink, Ian?"

"I'd like a large root beer," I answered.

"Two large root beers to go with that," Charles said. "With a side order of garlic butter," he added. He looked at me and smiled. "That's good eatin." In no time our pizza was served. We sat quietly eating our fill of the huge pie in front of us, drinking plenty of root beer and watching all the different people come and go. It was late, and we both were tired. "Are you ready to hit the road?" Charles asked. "We better head out and find a room. Tomorrow will be here sooner than you think."

"What time are we going to leave tomorrow morning?" I asked.

"Well, I thought an early breakfast at about 6, and then we'll head for the mountains and see if we can find the Lost Gorge ranch." Just hearing Charles' words made the excitement in me grow more and more in anticipation of seeing new friends and exploring new places. Charles smiled, thanked our waitress as he paid the bill, and we headed out the door.

The snow was really coming down heavily now, and the wind was howling. We ran to the Jeep, careful not to slip on the ice, and jumped in wiping the snow from our face and clothes. "Whew! It's getting nasty out there, Ian." Charles exclaimed, "We better find a motel room fast." We buckled up and headed down the highway along with all the other slow moving vehicles looking for vacancy signs at any motel available. Seeing a flashing vacancy sign high atop an approaching hill, we slowed to pull over and head toward it. "You wait here and watch our gear," Charles said. "I'll get us a room so we can get some shut eye." Charles headed into the motel, and I sat quietly only hearing the sound of the Jeep running and the windshield wipers going back and forth clearing the still falling snowflakes. They hit the warm windshield and melted. Shortly, Charles returned with a key, and we drove off to room # 110.

We jumped out of the Jeep, grabbed our overnight bag and ran through the snow into the warm, waiting room. It certainly wasn't fancy, but the beds looked inviting to us both. Tomorrow would be here very soon, and we both were dog-tired. I washed up and was in bed in minutes, pulling the sheets and covers high around my neck to stay warm. "Goodnight Charles," I said, closing my eyes and rolling over.

"See you in the morning," Charles answered. "We've got a big day ahead of us."

CHAPTER FOUR

### UNDER ATTACK AT HARTSEL

RING – RING – RING...The phone on the night stand rang loudly, startling us both. Charles reached over and grabbed the phone. "Hello," he said. "O.K. Thank you very much. That's our wake-up call, Ian. We have an exciting day ahead of us. It's time to rise and shine." I rolled over and covered my head with a pillow. Charles took a shower and let me catch some more sleep as he did. I felt a hand shaking me, and I looked up. Charles was standing over me with a big smile. He had a huge jaw with big white teeth. "O.K. big guy," he said. "It's shower time for you." I jumped up and sluggishly moved toward the bathroom.

The warm shower water seemed to urge me to come alive. I began thinking about the upcoming day's drive to the ranch, and visions of riding horses and hiking mountain trails raced through my mind. When I dried off and stepped out of the bathroom, Charles was returning with bagels, juice and hot chocolate. "It's cold out there," Charles shivered. "Here's some fuel for the furnaces."

"I'm starved," I shot back, as I bent over to tie my shoes. We ate our food, packed our gear and walked out to greet the new day. As we did the cold air hit me in the face, but it was the beautiful clear, blue sky above us that took my breath away. A thick white blanket of snow had covered the ground as far as we could see. In the distance, mountain peaks were covered in white and against the blue sky and tree covered mountainsides, it looked like a beautiful painting. We placed our duffel bags into the Jeep and wound our way down the side of the hill to the highway below. The roads were clear from the snowplows working all night, and we eagerly headed west out of town on Highway #24 toward Lost Gorge.

The drive was extremely exciting and scary at the same time since I had never been so close to steep drop offs as I was now during our drive in these mountains. There were some guardrails, but many areas had none. I was surprised to see such wide and beautiful roads as we drove the twisted paths along the mountains. "There's the Air Force Academy, that way, Ian," Charles said, as he tapped my leg. "Maybe someday you'll attend there since you want to be a pilot."

"That would be great," I responded as we passed the road sign that said " _17 miles to Air Force Academy."_ We also passed a sign that read "Pike's Peak." Charles told me about a car race that was held yearly on that mountain. I thought they had to be nuts.

We had been traveling for some time, climbing as we went, when we saw another sign reading: _"Wilkerson Pass – 9625 feet...4 miles."_ I looked off into the distance and saw a train winding along the side of a mountain like a long, twisting snake. We continued our journey but were suddenly stopped by a flagman dressed in orange standing in the road ahead of us. Charles stopped beside him and asked if there was a problem.

"Yes, sir," he replied. "There's a danger of an avalanche ahead that has to be removed. It'll be a short delay." We could hear the roar of what sounded like a large explosion in the distance that seemed to echo forever throughout the deep valley below. Charles looked over and gestured to the flagman to come over.

"Pardon me," Charles asked, "What's the loud boom we just heard?"

"That was our Howitzer cannon firing into an avalanche shelf to remove any danger of it sliding onto the highway. You see," he continued, "We've had early snow falls and the snow builds up and gets trapped along the mountain ridges sometimes and has to be released before it becomes too large. If we didn't, huge avalanches would destroy this entire highway and close the pass, and this is an important route to the western Colorado area."

"Well, I'll be," Charles exclaimed. "You learn something new everyday. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the information. Well, Ian, is that fascinating or what?" Charles asked.

"I guess this trip is going to be educational as well as an adventure," I replied. Charles started forward as the flagman waved us through. Charles nodded and smiled as we passed him and headed toward the summit. As we did so, we passed the cannons and the huge plows, which had removed snow that had come from an avalanche run above. Luckily we had filled the Jeep up in a little town called Lake George earlier so the delay wasn't bothersome.

Though the distance we had to travel to Lost Gorge wasn't a great one, the roads had narrowed and become curvier and with the fresh snow and ice, we had to travel more slowly. We continued winding our way through the valleys and along the creeks dotted with beaver dams. I'd heard of people calling this God's country; now I could see why. God certainly had smiled when he created this. Charles and I talked about anything and everything as we drove. I found myself hardly missing the orphanage guys and girls at all. But, I did miss Zack. We continued along the slick highway at a good speed but always aware of the snow and icy conditions around us. We soon saw a road sign which read " _Hartsel 21 miles."_

"I'm ready for a little break. How about you?" Charles asked.

"Sounds good to me," I answered. "I'd like to get some hot chocolate and some chips."

"Then Hartsel it'll be," Charles continued. I reached over and flipped on the radio just in time to hear John Denver singing "Rocky Mountain High."

"If that doesn't get us in a good mood, nothing will," Charles smiled. He's a good ole Colorado boy and proud of it. "I can remember when I was working a security detachment in Raleigh, North Carolina after retiring from the Bureau. John and his entourage were coming to town to put on a concert and hired my company to set up all the security. He wasn't extremely well known yet, but it was obvious to me he would be a big star someday. It didn't take him long to prove me right. For years after that we handled all his security when he came to town, and we became good friends. He was a very genuine and sincere guy who made it real easy to like him. You know...when I think about it I haven't seen him since I went to work for Mr. Bryant. That's been years now," Charles paused. "It sure would be good to look him up."

"You sure have had an exciting life Charles, haven't you?" I asked.

"I guess I have, Ian," he answered. "I've met some great ones and some real bad ones."

We continued driving and could see a small town in the distance that we knew had to be Hartsel. Within minutes we were approaching the outskirts of town and spied a bent over sign that read, _"Hartsel Population 131"._ I looked at Charles and was lost for words. I didn't know that a town could be that small. As we entered town we saw maybe eight buildings nestled in the deep snow and a few more than that on the mountainsides in the distance. SPLAT – SPLAT. Out of nowhere two snowballs smashed onto our windshield startling us both. We looked over only to see two small figures scurrying around the corner of a building with a sign on top that read, _"Nelsons Garage."_

"Welcome to Hartsel," Charles smiled and exclaimed. Nothing seemed to bother Charles. All the buildings in town were very rustic. We could, we thought, identify some of the old buildings. One looked like an old barn with a blacksmith sign out front, a garage, gas station/general store combination and a restaurant. There appeared to be tiny cottages along a small frozen creek, which was fed by streams of water from the surrounding mountains. At the very end of the street there was an old mill house that read, _"Withers Dairy."_ We pulled up to the pumps at the gas station and got out to stretch. It was blowing, but the cold, dry air felt refreshing as we walked toward the steps to go inside. We opened the door, and a bell rang out as we did. "Ding, Ding". We looked around and were amazed. It was like something out of the 1800's, but it was fascinating and beautiful at the same time. We looked past a sign that read " _Immerhaven Lodge"_ into a darkened room dimly lit by small oil lamps. We stood at the door staring at a huge fieldstone fireplace burning at the one end of the room. The walls were decorated with antlers and different size stuffed trout, and the tables were covered with, what Charles described as, fine linen tablecloths. Charles and I looked at each other not saying a word.

"May I help you?" a small voice asked. We turned and saw a tiny old lady wearing a floor length dress with a broom in her hand.

Charles smiled and said, "Yes, ma'am, we'd like some gas and maybe some food, if it's available."

"Well, boys you know how the pump works. Turn the handle and start pumpin'. When you're finished let me know the cost. We work on the honor system here," she continued. "I got three choices for eatin; either small elk tenderloin, medium elk tenderloin, or large elk tenderloin. You get a large mess of mashed potatoes with gravy, candied carrots, a big basket of buttermilk biscuits and the best homemade ice cream west of Denver. Take it or leave it boys, but I need an answer, now," she finished.

Charles smiled and with a twinkle in his eye said, "We'll take two medium steaks and could you find some strong hot coffee for me and some cold milk for my friend here?" he asked.

"You got it, boys," she answered. "Just go start pumpin."

We headed outside to do as we had been instructed. "What do you think, Ian?" Charles asked. "I'd say she's quite a character, wouldn't you?"

"Do you think she lives here by herself?" I asked.

"No, I'm sure there's help around we don't see right now." We gazed wondrously at the scenery around us as we finished pumping the gas. It truly was beautiful, but it was in the middle of nowhere. Charles nudged me with his elbow and nodded his head toward the mountains ahead. "Looks like some bad weather over there. We better eat and take off, or we may have to drive these roads in the dark, and I'm not crazy about doin' that." I looked at the darkening sky and saw the snow starting to blow fiercely and knew he was right. We finished pumping gas and once again headed inside. We hit the steps running, opened the door and were hit immediately in the face with the most delicious smell, we both agreed, we had ever experienced. We peered into the dining room and could see the tiny crouching figure of our hostess busily cooking over the open-hearth fire. This truly was like something we had studied in our history books about times gone by. We noisily, so as to not startle the old lady, walked toward the fire.

"Sit down, boys and get warm," she suddenly said. "Lunch is about ready." We both took a seat in two oversized wooden rockers and could feel the heat radiating from the hot embers of the fire. "Boys, you better plan on spendin' the night if you're travelin' west. Trout Creek Pass is blown shut 'cause of a bad storm that's comin' in. My daughter called from Buena Vista. That's just on the other side of the pass. Her husband works on the state maintenance crew and is already workin' to keep it clear. You get caught on these roads in a bad storm, and it can be a killer, but you make up your own minds.

"Do you have any rooms in town?" Charles asked.

"Nope, no rooms," she answered, "but you're welcome to use one of those little cabins," she pointed out back. "They're not fancy, but they're dry and cozy and will keep you warm with a big fire burnin'."

"I think we just might take you up on your offer," Charles replied. "Better safe than sorry."

"Good idea, boys," she said nodding approvingly. "Now, go sit down, and I'll bring your meals over," she said as she shooshed us toward a table she had set. Charles and I sat down as she carefully placed bowls of food all around us and then returned to the fire. Seconds later she was back carrying a platter with two beautifully cooked, huge elk steaks. She placed them in front of us and told us to dig in. "Take your time," she said, "I'll get you some blankets and oil for the lamps when you're ready to head out back to your cabin."

"Thank you, ma'am," Charles said. "You've been very kind."

"Well, Ian," Charles said, "It looks like we've had a slight delay."

"That's alright," I replied. "The weather was getting pretty nasty and besides those old cabins looked pretty neat. How far is Lost Gorge anyway?" I asked Charles.

"From what I see on the map, it's around Nathrop and that looks like about 50 miles," Charles answered. "So tomorrow should be a fairly quick drive, depending on the weather and roads."

"That's great. I'm getting excited about seeing where I'll be staying," I answered excitedly. We didn't say much after that because we were enjoying everything about the lunch we had spread out before us. If this was an example of Colorado food and hospitality, this was going to be a great experience. The elk tenderloin melted in your mouth, the potatoes were fluffy and creamy and the biscuits were light as a feather and hot. Our cook at the orphanage was good, but this lady was GREAT! We ate slowly, savoring every bite and marveled at the beautiful log dining room that surrounded us. Tonight would be exciting, I was sure. For a city boy, to spend the night sleeping in an old log cabin was something I thought I would never experience. Boy, was I wrong!

Charles and I finished our lunch and went to find the old lady. She was standing on a stepladder reaching high above her head removing cobwebs with her broom. "Ding, Ding." We turned around to see two young boys coming through the door. They looked suspiciously like the two figures we saw throwing the snowballs at our Jeep. They couldn't have been any older than 10 or 11. "Mrs. Parks?" the taller one asked. "Can we warm up by your fire?"

"Sure you can, Billy as soon as you and David apologize to these gentlemen for hitting their jeep," she said with a twinkle in her eye. They turned their heads and looked at each other. They were wondering how she knew, and so were we.

"We're sorry," they both said, embarrassed. Then they took off running toward the roaring fire taking off their jackets and gloves as they did.

"I was upstairs cleaning my chandelier and just happened to look out the window when you boys were driving into town," she said. Those Nelson boys are something else. I saw them waitin' in ambush and knew you were gonna' get it. You'll have to forgive them. They're good boys who are just plain bored. School's on vacation, and the weather's been tough this year."

"That's O.K.," Charles replied. "I was young myself a long time ago."

"Their daddy owns the local garage, but he's out hunting a killer mountain lion that's been stalking and killing some of our local cattle. It's even killed some of our dogs. Way out here cattle and water are like gold. Mess with either one and you're in deep trouble," she said. "Well, enough small talk. Here's your blankets, a can of oil for the lamps and this," she continued. She pulled a rifle from a closet and handed it to Charles. "Know how to use this?" Charles took it in his hands, smiled and said he did. "Out here you need protection. You never know who or what may be around the next corner," she continued. "Just take care of it and bring it back in the mornin'. It was my dead husband's favorite rifle."

The old lady, who we now knew was Mrs. Parks, took us out the back door, handed us a key and pointed us toward our cabin. "If you get hungry later, come on up, and I'll rustle up some more grub for you." We both thanked her and started wading through knee deep snow toward our cabin. We arrived at our temporary home, unlocked the door and entered a very cold and dark room. There was a very definite musty smell in the air so we left the door temporarily cracked to help air it out. Our eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and Charles grabbed a couple oil lamps to fill up. He lit the lamps, and the cabin's interior was immediately illuminated. It was obvious that ordinary sanitation had not been a priority. It seemed as though nothing had ever been thrown away. The cabin was jammed to the rafters with empty cardboard boxes, old coffee cans and everything else they wanted to get rid of. There were old newspapers and pieces of rotted cloth jammed between the logs to be used as insulation, some of which had fallen out allowing cold air and daylight to come through the walls. This could be a long, cold night and certainly a new adventure, I thought to myself. We managed to push boxes aside and clear an area large enough for the two cots that were folded against the wall. Charles grabbed some wood and started to build a fire to get the cold out of the air, and I headed outside to bring more wood in. There was quite a large pile of wood stacked against the wall outside. That was good news for us both, but we knew it still could be an uncomfortable night at best.

CHAPTER FIVE

### HEART POUNDING WITH FEAR

Settled in, at last, we sat with our blankets tightly bundled around our shoulders. Charles' attempt at building a fire was certainly successful. We were sitting about six feet from the stone fireplace, but the heat was reddening our faces, already. We were both re-thinking our negative view of the fast approaching darkness. With the warmth of the fire the cabin was actually beginning to feel quite comfortable. I found myself lying back on my cot and slowly letting my eyes close. I must have been asleep for a few minutes when I was startled by a strange movement on my leg. I opened my eyes and looked down the length of my pants and began to scream. "Help! Help!" I jumped up, slapping at my pant leg as I did and ran outside into the biting wind and snow. I turned around and saw Charles standing at the door with his head pointing skyward laughing as I had never seen him before. "Did you see that?" I asked Charles, as I stood and brushed the snow from my clothes. "I'm not sleeping in there tonight! I'll go sleep in the Jeep," I said excitedly.

"That won't be necessary, Ian," Charles assured me, still laughing. "That was just a big old pack rat. They're as afraid of you as you are of them." I walked back into the cabin peering cautiously as I did.

"I guess I'll take your word for it," I said as I sat back down on the edge of my cot. Just as I did, Charles suggested we walk up front to get some snacks and something to drink before it got dark. We put our coats on and headed out tromping through the snow toward the gas station. We were greeted by Mrs. Parks as we entered the door.

"Well, boys, how's the cabin workin' out?" she asked.

"Very comfortable," Charles answered. "It even came with its own pack rat. Right, Ian?" She laughed and her eyes sparkled.

"Guess I should have warned you about ole Ben," she smiled. "He's lived there a couple of years. Never has paid any rent though. He's a real rat. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha," she laughed loudly. We knew she thought she'd made a funny, and so did we. We both joined her in a big laugh as we warmed by the fire briefly.

After we had picked out some snacks, we thanked her, wished her good night and set out on our return journey back to our cabin. In the few minutes it took to arrive, all signs of light had almost disappeared. We gratefully pushed open the door and stomped off any snow we could. "Whew! It's gonna be a cold, bitter night," Charles said. "We better batten down the hatches and hold tight."

"That wind is really howling already," I responded. "We better keep that fire burning, or we'll freeze to death."

"You just go ahead and sleep, and leave the fire to me," Charles said. "I've been this route before." I once again lay back on my cot and stared at the ceiling. Charles and I talked about our plans for the next day and even about his adventures as an F.B.I. agent. Soon, I rolled over on my side, curled up and closed my eyes. My lights had gone out.

"Roarrrrrrrrrr – Roarrrrrrrrrrr –Roarrrrrrrrr." I jumped off my cot and listened intently. "Roarrrrr." It sounded like a lion at the zoo. I looked over to see Charles peering out the window.

"He's over there, Tom," we heard a voice yell in the distance. "Go get the boys!"

"Neigh . . Neighhhhh." Horses neighing and the sound of thundering hooves could be heard close by. The ground seemed to move below the cabin as horses blindly ran past our cabin. Charles cracked the door to investigate all the commotion and pulled back immediately.

"There's horses stampeding, Ian," Charles said. "Stay inside till it's clear."

"Tom, Joe, Billy! You guys head off west toward the gulch, and Jack and I'll try to corral 'em when you turn 'em." We could hear orders being shouted in the distance and wondered what was up.

I carefully and slowly opened the door and stepped forward slowly to get a better look. "Roarrrrrrrr – Roarrrrrrrr." I froze in my tracks. "Roarrrrrrrrr." I looked up at the roof toward the sound and was petrified. I saw two large eyes in the darkness of the night. My heart began pounding wildly. I couldn't speak, and my legs wouldn't work. Sweat began trickling down my brow and into my eyes. With my eyes as big as saucers, I was keenly aware of what I was staring at, now. It was a mountain lion. I could see the powerful leg and back muscles as they tensed and the huge teeth as the head strained forward toward me. I wanted to scream out to Charles for help, but my fear had paralyzed me and left me to the mercy of my enemy above. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, I cried out

"Charles! Help!" Just as I did, I rocked back on my heels and fell backward into the deep, fluffy snow. Aware of the danger I was in, my eyes remained fixed on the mountain lion even as I fell. My movement had been followed and had obviously upset the lion as he crept forward, slouching down into, what looked like, an attack position. Opening his mouth he showed me every tooth he owned and roared ferociously. "Roarrrrrrrrrr! Roarrrrrrr!" The next thing that happened will be with me forever. His body seemed to coil into a tightly wound mass of muscle, and he appeared to shift his weight backward. Then, the nightmare of all nightmares happened. He released all that stored up energy and was flying through the cold, night air toward me. His paws were outstretched, mouth wide open, and the eyes were intensely fixed on my body. The horror I felt was indescribable. Though it all happened in a flash, he seemed to glide like a bird in the sky. I closed my eyes knowing shortly I was sure to be torn to shreds and devoured.

A loud crack rang out.... and then another. It was the unmistakable sound of gunshots as they echoed throughout the entire valley. I heard a loud "thud" in the snow next to my head and quickly rolled over to see what it was. Not two feet away was the massive body of the mountain lion with blood coming from its mouth and a large hole in its side. A large hairy hand grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me upward.

"Are you all right, Ian?" I checked myself over and turned to see Charles standing behind me holding the rifle Mrs. Parks had loaned us.

"I guess," I managed to gasp.

"That was a close call," he continued. My heart was still beating so hard I could feel it in my throat. I collapsed back into the snow. The experience and my fear had drained me of all my strength. I couldn't move. I sat there in the snow trying to get myself together. The sound of horses behind us could be heard riding fast. Within seconds five riders appeared out of the darkness with rifles in hand and quickly dismounted.

"You boys O.K.?" a big man with a large beard asked. "We heard shots fired and thought there might be trouble," he continued.

"Not now there isn't," I managed to get out as I nodded toward the ground. He looked over and saw the mountain lion lying dead in the red-stained snow.

"Well, I'll be a son-of-a-gun," he said taking off his cowboy hat and scratching his long, curly, dark head of hair. "Boys, look at this. They've killed that mountain lion we've been huntin'. Guess you boys are gonna be heroes around here; that's for sure."

"You've got our thanks," another one added, as they all took turns shaking our hands.

"You boys better get inside or you'll freeze to death," the first man said. "By the way, my name's Jack Nelson. I own the local garage. We'll get this cougar out of here, and see you in the mornin'. Thanks, again."

Charles and I spun around and retreated to the warmth of our cabin. We turned and watched the riders put the body of the dead cat across the back of one of the horses and secure it with ropes. Then they mounted their horses and looked toward our cabin as we stood in the doorway, smiled and tipped their hats as they began riding off. We waved back and slammed the door shut on the cold and blustery night. I looked at Charles and with tears almost forming in my eyes, I held my hand out to thank him. He grabbed my hand in his, put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me tight. "No words necessary," he said. "Everything turned out fine and we're still healthy." I couldn't get the words out to express my thanks. But, I knew he had just saved my life by shooting that mountain lion right out of the air. What a shot! Two shots before he hit the ground, and both hit their target. I was totally drained, sat down on my cot and covered up with my blanket. It must have been the exhilaration of the adventure because I soon found my eyes closing and vaguely remember Charles' powerful, but gentle hands pulling the blanket up around my neck as I lay down. "Good night Big Guy," he whispered. I heard his comforting words, but by then I was almost asleep and certainly beyond being able to respond.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of the door being slammed. Squinting, I could see Charles' sillouhette in the brightness of the cabin window. "Good mornin', sleepy head. Ready for the big day today?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Charles. I didn't mean to sleep so late," I said as I jumped up and tucked my shirt in.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's not late. It's just bright out because the sky's so clear and blue. That nasty storm blew through and took all that bad weather with it," he finished. I laced up my boots, shuffled slowly toward the door and cracked it slightly.

The brightness was blinding as the sun, still low in the sky, was reflecting off the sea of white as far as the eye could see. As my eyes became adjusted, I could see a pretty little lake fed by a run of water dropping from the mountains surrounding us. Briar bushes, crabapples, and plum thickets seemed to line the creek's shoreline, just as they did at the orphanage. Snow covered as they were, birds of all descriptions were flitting here and there searching out any old fruit buried in the wind swept mounds. I closed the door tightly and turned to see Charles poking at the fire, knocking it apart. "Let's gather all our gear and clean up before we take off," Charles said. "I'll put out the fire. You fold the blankets and break down the cots." Charles headed outside and returned with a bucket of snow to put over the fire. You could hear the hissing sound of steam as the snow smothered our once roaring fire. Charles put on one more bucket and was satisfied the job was done. We took a look around and walked out the door for the last time. We headed towards Mrs. Parks, and as we did, we passed the spot in the snow where the cougar lay dead the night before. Though the wind had blown all night, visible spots of bright, red blood could still be seen. We paused, momentarily, looked at each other and started walking. After that, we never looked back.

Arriving at our Jeep, we opened the door and put our gear inside. Charles took his gloved hand and began wiping snow from the windows and lights. "Good morning to the heroes," came a voice behind us. We turned to see who was, by now, our easily recognizable hostess, Mrs. Parks. "The good Lord must have sent you boys here to us," she declared. I hear that was some mighty fancy shootin'. One through the heart and one through the eye. I swear you aren't any tenderfoot after all," she smiled and said as she approached Charles.

"You're the hero, ma'am," Charles told the old lady. "Without this rifle you loaned us, my friend here may have been killed. For that, I thank you," he finished.

"Breakfast is on the house," she blurted out. "Come on in, and sit till it's ready." We followed her inside to the dining room. Opening the door we were met with clapping and cheers of, "Thank you!" The room was packed, and the tables were filled with every food imaginable. There were plates of elk, antelope, ham, eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits and jars of preserves and containers of thick, sweet honey. Everyone in town must have been there to thank us for killing their mountain lion. This certainly wasn't expected or necessary, but it made us feel wonderful. We ate and visited with all the people and then gave our apologies and told them we had to be on our way. After saying our good byes, we headed out with Mrs. Parks trailing behind.

"It was short, boys, but you made a big impression, and I'll miss you."

"Mrs. Parks, you're a lovely lady and very cordial. We appreciate all the considerations you've shown us, and we'll miss you as well," Charles replied.

"That mountain lion's gonna make a nice rug," she said, "and every time I stand on it I'll think of you two." She gave each of us a big hug and wished us luck. We jumped into the Jeep and started it up. Backing up slowly you could hear the sound of snow crunching beneath the tires. We looked out and saw Mrs. Parks waving good-bye as we pointed our jeep toward the highway. Hartsel good bye and Lost Gorge here we come. Finally, today I'd meet my host family, and I couldn't wait.

CHAPTER SIX

### LOST GORGE RANCH AT LAST

Visible signs of the storm from yesterday were all around us. Snow was piled high lining the road as we carefully drove the slippery highway westward. Huge drifts could be seen blown up against the outcropping of rock dotting the barren landscape. As we continued driving, the bright sun was clearing the icy roadways for us and beginning to melt the mountain streams. We saw water roaring ahead foaming over enormous boulders with cliffs rising almost vertically 100 to 500 feet above the sparkling clear water. It was certainly a magnificent sight for a city boy used to flat land and small ponds. After awhile we saw no more streams or falls, but we traveled several miles through desolate looking hills and orange/red looking buttes. We saw a _"Trout Creek Pass"_ sign in the distance as we crossed over a large body of water named French Creek River. As we climbed higher the sun was doing an efficient job of melting snow on the surrounding peaks and in the valleys. The roads were now clear as we journeyed up and over White's Fork Crossing, a tributary of French Creek. We crossed and re-crossed the creek traveling past the sagebrush valleys and desolate hills surrounding us. Shortly, we drove by an area with huge rock formations scattered about resembling ancient castles and crumbled ruins. As we arrived at the pinnacle of Trout Creek Pass, we were greeted by a huge animal standing in the middle of the road. We came to an abrupt stop.

"Now that's a big elk," Charles said.

"Holly cow," I shot back. "It's bigger than a horse." Charles blew the horn and inched forward as he did. Obviously, the elk didn't fear us by the way he looked up at us and then slowly began moving off. We then began our descent down the mountainside toward Johnson City, 8 miles below. The view was unbelievably beautiful. There, before us, was a wide valley with homes scattered throughout and a backdrop of majestic mountains with snow-capped peaks. Arriving at the crossroads in town, we saw a sign _"Buena Vista – 7 mi. Nathrop – 5 mi."_ We turned left and headed toward Nathrop and our final destination, Lost Gorge Ranch. Charles removed a paper from his pocket with the exact directions to the ranch. It read: _"Turn left at Johnson City, proceed two miles on left, see Lost Gorge Ranch sign, turn left, cross Arkansas River. Proceed two miles to gate."_

We both were excited to have arrived, and we did as we were directed. As we drove the long, winding and bumpy road, we saw elk and deer bounding through the open snowy fields into the thick groves of trees ahead seeking refuge. Because of melting snow, the road was quite muddy in spots, and it made our climb up the long winding drive difficult. Finally, we arrived at a huge gate framed by 30-foot poles on both sides and a large wooden sign hanging across the top: _"Lost Gorge Ranch."_ We were here at last. Putting the Jeep in gear, we proceeded slowly and arrived at a large opening in the surrounding forest. Sprawled out in front of us was a massive, adobe home with thick smooth-trunked aspen groves surrounding it and lodge-pole pines intermixed. Large gray squirrels and jack rabbits twice as big as their cousins back east could be seen in the tree tops and hopping through the woods. Close by the ranch and the barns were thick patches of brush with, what looked like, coveys of quail flying in and out. I felt as though I had been taken to another planet. There were things here that I had never seen before but had read about and studied. Suddenly, the front door opened, and a pretty, blond haired girl walked out and approached.

"May I help you?" she asked. "My name's Katie McVicar."

"Hello, Katie. My name's Charles, and this is Ian. I believe you're expecting us."

"Oh, yes," she said excitedly. "We have been expecting you. I'll get my mother and father." She turned and ran up the front steps into the house. Shortly, the door opened, and the three appeared, smiling. We exited the Jeep and walked towards our hosts. Charles stuck out his hand.

"Mr. McVicar? My name's Charles, and this is Ian."

"Please, call me, Duke," he said as he grabbed our hands firmly. "This is my wife, Doris, and you've met my daughter Katie." "Katie, have Jeb get these men's bags and bring them in the house, will you, Sweetheart?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied. We followed our hosts as they directed us inside. Stepping through the door, Charles and I stood in awe. The interior was all wood logs with shiny hardwood floors and large buffalo rugs placed throughout. Just like in Hartsel, there was a huge stone fireplace, and there was a large painting of Mr. McVicar hanging above it.

The McVicars escorted us on a tour of the house. There was a long winding staircase leading upstairs at the one end of the house and a room filled with plants at the other. One entire wall was filled with firearms and knives of every description. The back of the house was almost entirely all glass with patio doors opening onto a huge, flat, ledge rock patio. The view out the back was spectacular. You could see at least three individual, tall mountain tops and a magnificent trailing waterfall that must have dropped at least 300 feet to a pool of water and fast moving rapids below. We walked upstairs and were shown the six bedrooms and well-stocked library, as well as a large, recreation room with a pool table and bar.

"Ian, this will be your room while you're our guest," Mrs. McVicar said. I stuck my head in to take a look and just smiled a big smile. It was a large room with its own bathroom and a view of some barns and corrals for the horses and cattle below. There were other assorted buildings in the distance; the view was the most impressive of all. It will be a pleasure to wake up to this everyday, I thought to myself.

"This is great!" I told the McVicars, "I've never seen anything so beautiful." We walked a little further and Katie's room was pointed out to me, as well. Following our hosts down the wide staircase, we were met at the door by the loud chimes of the doorbell. Mrs. McVicar opened the door and gave a big, "Hello, Jeb."

"Howdy, ma'am," he said. "Katie gave me your message. Brad and I brought your guests' luggage up."

"Thanks, Jeb," she said. "Come on in and meet these folks." They entered and removed their cowboy hats. "Charles...Ian, this is Jeb, our foreman and his son, Brad. Ian, I think you and Brad will become pretty, good friends while you're here." We exchanged handshakes and smiles, and separated our luggage. "Brad, you and Ian take his bags up to his room and Jeb will show Charles his room in the guest quarters at the bunkhouse. After you freshen up, come on back, and we'll give you a walking tour today of the grounds and then head out on horseback tomorrow," Mr. McVicar said. We headed off in different directions, unpacked and settled into our rooms. I sat in my chair gazing out the window at the corrals below and the mountains in the distance. I felt my insides shaking with excitement, knowing this was going to be an exciting 30-day adventure.

CHAPTER SEVEN

### GHOST TOWN HERE WE COME

"Knock. Knock. Knock." I rolled over only to hear the soft voice of Katie. "Come on cowboy; breakfast in 15 minutes. I'll see you downstairs." I jumped up and headed for the shower. After dressing, which I did extremely fast to impress my hosts, I quickly made it down the long staircase toward the kitchen. I rounded the corner and saw Mr. McVicar and Charles engaged in conversation, Mrs. McVicar sitting at the end of the table, and Katie looking up with her sparkling, blue eyes and smiling. "Hi Ian. How did you sleep?" she asked.

"Good morning, everyone," I blurted out. "I slept great!" Charles looked up at me and smiled.

"Find a place and sit down, Ian," Mrs. McVicar said. "Breakfast is hot."

"You look pretty rested," Mr. McVicar said, "but how's the rear-end?" "Oh, Daddy," Katie said embarrassed.

"Well, it's pretty important," Mr. McVicar said laughing. "We're going to put him on Splits today."

"Splits? Who's Splits?" I asked.

"He's going to be your horse as long as you're here," Katie said. "We picked him out especially for you."

"Watch out. He's a real killer," Mr. McVicar said with a slight chuckle. I wasn't quite sure what was so funny, but I'd soon find out. We all finished the big breakfast and headed for the barn.

It was obvious the weather was changing because all that deep snow from the day before was slowly beginning to disappear and turn to slush. Mr. McVicar, Katie, Charles and I entered the barn and flipped on the lights. You could see small birds flitting in and out making nests and bringing food to their young. I looked down toward the other end and saw Brad and his dad putting saddles on three horses. It was a huge barn, and it seemed as though we walked forever before we reached them. "Hey Ian," Brad smiled.

"Hi, Brad," I smiled back.

"Good mornin', Mr. Mac," Jeb said.

"Good mornin', Jeb," Mr. McVicar answered. "Do you have all the horses saddled?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Where's the killer?" Mr. McVicar asked.

"Brad has him tied up around the corner," Jeb answered. All the other riders took their horses' reigns, and we walked around the corner of the barn. What a sight! A large, black horse with a massive chest and swayed back stood in the shadow of the barn. My first thought...this horse has been around awhile. I looked at him, and he looked at me and snorted. I turned around to see a smile on everyone's face as each of them waited for me to mount up. I had ridden a horse many times at the orphanage so I wasn't nervous, but my hosts weren't aware of it. My butt fit snugly into the saddle in the valley of the horse's back. They had given me an old hag who had seen better days, but I didn't say a word. I jerked my horse around and waited for further orders. The four of us headed off with Mr. McVicar leading the way while Jeb and Brad stayed behind. We rode through the sometimes deep and sometimes non-existent snow. It was obvious that this was a very large ranch with wide-open ranges, deep and thick forests, and magnificent chalk colored cliffs. The weather had changed dramatically, and it was beginning to get quite warm. You could see water streaming over the sheer, stone mountainsides, as the warming temperatures melted the snow above.

"We could have some problems brewin' with this run-off," Mr. McVicar said as he pointed to areas around us. "If we get any kind of a freak cloudburst, this water would sweep down this valley taking anything in its way," he said, rather concerned.

We moved on, making our way to a vast clearing in what Mr. Mac called the Forest of Lights. We stopped as he told us the story of 4,000 brave Wapiti Indians lined up ready to face the Spanish conquistadors, who were seeking gold and destroying anything in their path. "Wouldn't any Chief be proud of his warriors, bonfires lighting the entire area, awaiting orders to attack as the Spanish made their way down the steep mountainside? And they held their ground," he explained. "Unfortunately the firearms the Spanish had brought were new and far superior to the Indians' weapons, and they were all slaughtered. They were all just sitting ducks illuminated by the raging, night fires. Legend has it lights can still be seen from time to time in this very spot, flickering in the darkness of the night." Shivers ran up and down my back as I looked over at Katie to see her reaction. There was none.

Once again we headed off down the valley with Mr. Mac leading the way. We wound our way along a narrow trail that Mr. Mac called Chalk Creek Gulch. Rounding a bend in the trail, there, spread out before us, was an old town with dilapidated buildings. There were no signs of life other than prairie dogs scurrying here and there, running for safety under a pile of old lumber on the main road. "Gentlemen, welcome to St. Elmo, once the boomtown of Chalk Creek Gulch," Mr. Mac shouted out. We all paused in the middle of the road looking in every direction. I could picture in my mind how these streets and fallen buildings once bustled with men and horses, mule trains and pack trains of burros. Now the only remnants of a once prosperous past were collapsing buildings, with wood almost bleached white by the sun, an old rotten wooden water tower that was lying on its side and a few old rusted ore cars sitting on tracks leading to nowhere.

We slowly began moving up the main street to find a spot to dismount in need of a good stretch. Katie seemed to slow her walk on purpose, as I began to catch up to her. Soon, we were walking side by side smiling at each other, every so often as we explored the old town. "Daddy! Daddy!" Katie suddenly cried out.

"What's up?" I asked, shocked.

"It's smoke!" Katie exclaimed pointing to the mountain above.

"Fire!" Mr. Mac burst out.

"I'll ride back and call the fire-tower," Katie said excitedly.

"No," Mr. Mac answered, "it's no forest fire with all this snow." We stared up at the curling smoke, and it seemed to vanish as fast as it started.

"That's strange," Mr. McVicar said with a quizzical look. "There's no camping around here. It's my property." Then the smoke was gone.

Mr. McVicar looped the strap of his binoculars around his neck and headed toward the only brick structure in town. Climbing the old rickety, side stairs still attached, he tried to get as high as he could. Putting his binoculars to his eyes, he scanned in the direction of the phantom smoke. Charles, Katie and I also scoured the countryside, but saw nothing. "It looks as if we've reached a dead-end," Charles said, "unless we ride toward the direction of the smoke."

"Look! Look up there!" I shouted, pointing frantically.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Did you see that Indian sitting on that big rock up there?" I asked excitedly. "There are no Indians here," Mr. McVicar said smiling. "Have you been watchin' too many cowboy movies?"

"No, sir!" I said, knowing for sure I had seen an Indian. "He was dressed in rawhide and carried a bow and arrows on his back," I continued. Everyone looked at me, said nothing and then suddenly burst out laughing.

Without any warning a sudden cloudburst opened up, and we all ran for cover, pulling our horses as we did. Katie and I found cover inside an old saloon filled with cobwebs, broken glass, rotten wooden tables and an old piano with the keys smashed and missing. Charles and Mr. McVicar were across the street standing under a leaky old roof. "Katie, I really did see an Indian. I swear I did," I said as I grabbed at her shoulder. I was begging her to believe me. I wanted her to know I would never tell her a lie.

"Ian, I want to believe you, but there aren't any Indians in this area," she said. I looked at her dejectedly and headed across the road toward Charles and Mr. Mac. Katie followed behind looking forlorn. She knew I had been hurt when they laughed, and especially since she was questioning me herself.

"Let's have some food and head back," Mr. Mac said. "The weather's starting to turn bad." After we ate the sandwiches Katie's mom had packed in our saddlebags, we started our journey home. There was little conversation on the way home. After a couple of hours on horseback, we reached the sprawling ranch. We went straight to the barn where Jeb and Brad took our horses to brush them and put them in their stalls. "Well, is everyone ready for a big dinner after that ride?" Mr. Mac asked. Everyone agreed that we were. We thanked Mr. Mac for the day's adventure and decided to meet in an hour after we had freshened up.

After enjoying a hearty meal of venison, pot roast and oven-browned potatoes, we all sat down and discussed the day's adventures. Once again, my Indian came up and seemed to remain the topic of conversation. "Doris, did you know there's Indians in them thar hills?" Mr. Mac asked with a smile.

"Now, Duke," Doris said, "be nice."

"Really, Mrs. McVicar!" I said, "I really did see an Indian!"

"I'm sure you saw something, Ian," Mrs. McVicar said. "But there are no Indians in this area of the state that we know of."

"I don't know about that," I said, "but I know for sure, I saw that Indian sitting on the rock. He even had bright yellow moccasins on his feet!" I said emphatically. Mr. and Mrs. McVicar quickly glanced at each other, their brows wrinkling as they did so, the color seemingly draining from their faces. I glanced over at Charles, who seemed to be watching the McVicars' response with a somewhat quizzical look on his face. Katie, sitting next to me, gave out a quiet gasp and looked over at her parents. Something very strange was happening in the room; that was obvious. Maybe I wasn't so crazy after all.

CHAPTER EIGHT

### IF LOOKS COULD KILL

I excused myself from the dinner table and headed upstairs to my room and a nice warm shower. I felt a loneliness tonight I hadn't felt in a long time. If only my buddy, Zack was here. I knew he could cheer me up.... He always did. I made my way up the large staircase with the sound of wood creaking behind me with every step I took. Though I was feeling pretty down, I was still in awe as I looked around at the massive beams, beautiful rugs, large, overstuffed leather furniture and the strong scent of pine that permeated the huge log interior. Heading to my room I rounded the corner and heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see Katie scurrying toward me with a smile on her face.

"Ian, please don't be upset. Mother and Father were only kidding you."

"I know," I responded, "but I know exactly what I saw."

"I believe you, Ian," Katie seemed to whisper, "but I can't tell you why." She turned and ran off to her room, leaving me standing with my mouth open, wondering what she was talking about and her mysterious behavior. I entered my room, threw myself into my large, leather chair and stared out of the window into the darkness. The only things to be seen were the peaks of the mountains silhouetted against the moon and the clouds slowly drifting by. I stared into the darkness...my mind re-living the day's events and Katie's cryptic message. I gave a deep sigh and became one with the chair, closing my eyes as I did. Maybe a short nap, and then a nice warm shower, and I would be back to normal.

A bright ball of fire was peering over the horizon as I suddenly jumped up and looked out the window. I frantically searched for my watch 6:15. My heart started beating wildly as I realized I had slept the entire night. I jumped up with a start. I threw off my clothes and ran to my shower. Mr. Mac said breakfast at 6:30, and I knew he meant it. I quickly showered, dressed and, breathing heavily from my quick sprint to the kitchen, arrived exactly at 6:30.

"That's what I like my boy," Mr. Mac said, "a man who's on time." I smiled and greeted everyone with a cheerful, "Good morning!" Charles smiled, looked toward me and nodded with that ever present twinkle in his eye. Katie wandered in just as I was sitting down and gave me a little smile as she sat down beside me.

"Good morning Mother...Father," Katie said as she greeted her parents. "Good morning, honey," they both shot back, almost simultaneously.

"Katie would you get the biscuits from the oven, sweetie?" she asked. "I don't want to ruin these scrambled eggs and steaks." Katie moved toward the large, silver colored stove, wrapped a towel around her hand and removed a steaming tray of scrumptious smelling biscuits and placed them in the center of the table. Mrs. Mac followed shortly, carrying two large platters. One platter held a heaping pile of bright yellow scrambled eggs, and the other held layers of great smelling elk steaks. Everyone's plates were filled, and the room became quiet as the sound of silverware clinking against the plates replaced the once loud conversations. After several minutes of enjoying a wonderful breakfast, Mr. Mac broke our self–imposed silence.

"Katie, you and Ian can enjoy a day of sightseeing while I take Charles into Buena Vista with me to pick up some supplies. I'll have Slim saddle your horses, and he'll ride with you to check some fences while you're out," he continued.

"Yes, sir," Katie said with a slight furrowing of her brow. "Does it have to be"...Katie was interrupted by her father before she could finish.

"Katie, Slim will be waiting for you," he shot back.

"Yes, sir," she acknowledged.

When we finished eating, Katie and I headed for the barn. She seemed quiet, and I could tell that she was bothered by something. "Is everything alright?" I asked as we both made our way around the many mud holes.

"I guess I just don't care much for Slim," she paused. "He gives me the creeps," she said with a shudder. Before I could ask why, we arrived at the corral. Saddling a horse on the far side was a tall, skinny man with black hair to his shoulders. He drew back his hand and smacked it hard across the horse's nose, resulting in a crack that could easily be heard across the corral. The horse reared up on his hind legs and pawed at the air with his powerful front ones. The man then jerked hard on the reigns and grabbed the halter trying to calm him. Katie jumped through the rails and ran towards them both yelling as she did. "Slim, don't hit Jasper! He still needs more work. You know that."

"Mr. Mac told me to saddle ya up a couple of horses, Miss Katie," Slim said rather sarcastically.

"Not this one!" Katie angrily shot back. "Ian's not use to being around horses."

"That's alright, Katie, don't worry. I think I can handle it," I said emphatically. My remark seemed to bring a smile to Slim's tobacco stained lips.

The horse pranced and pawed, but the saddle was finally put into place and cinched up tightly. I took the reins and swung my leg up and over sliding easily onto Jasper's back. "Ian, you get down off of there right now!" Katie shouted excitedly. "That horse will kill you." I looked down and smiled only to see Slim roaring with laughter.

"Ride em, Cowboy!" he yelled sarcastically. After that remark I was determined to stay aboard Jasper, no matter what. The horse reared and snorted with disgust. The next thing I knew, he whirled around 360 degrees in midair, started bucking, took off running and stopped suddenly. I flew off, sailing over the horse's head landing face down in the thick mud. Thank goodness for all the rainy days. It sure made for a soft landing. Katie's hand squeezed my shoulder as she asked if I was all right. I rolled over on my back, propped myself up on my elbows and gave her a big smile.

"I feel great!" I shouted. Slim only laughed at my spill and made no attempt to help me up or ask if I was okay. I quickly jumped up, wiped the mud off me, as best I could, and headed for Jasper. As I strode through the mud, Katie begged me to forget it. Slim looked at me through his squinting eyes with a smirk on his face. Now, I was more determined than ever. I slowly reached for the horse's bridle, stroked his long, graceful neck and grabbed the pummel of the saddle. I threw my leg up and over again and settled into the firm leather seat. Bending forward I whispered into Jasper's ear, "Easy, boy, easy." Gently pressing my knees against his chest, I urged him forward. To my surprise, he slowly walked ahead waiting for my next command.

We broke into a trot, back to a walk, then a trot, again. "Open the gate!" I shouted to Slim. "I'm ready to ride!" I looked over at Katie and gave a huge smile. Slim glared at me with a disgusted look in his cold eyes. If looks could kill, I'm sure this city boy would be dead.

"Ride em, Cowboy!" Katie shouted out with joy. As I passed through the gate,

Katie ran toward me and grabbed my horse's bridle. Slim, stood still, glaring, and then slowly turned and stomped off through the mud mumbling as he did. "Oh, Slim," Katie called out quickly. "Can you bring me my palomino? Ian already has his horse ready to ride. He won't need another one." We both looked at each other and burst out laughing. The joke was on Slim, and it was obvious he didn't like it. Little did we know he would carry the events of today deep in his memory.

Shortly, Slim returned with Katie's horse and his own in hand. It was obvious he was still snorting from a few minutes before. He angrily threw Katie the reins to her horse and quickly mounted his. "Let's go!" Slim snapped. "We've got work to do."

"Slim! The last time I checked, my _father_ owned this ranch," Katie shot back. "We'll leave when I'm ready. Is that clear?" Slim sat silent for a few seconds staring at her coldly, then responded,

"Yes ma'am." Now I saw why Katie didn't care much for Slim, and I wondered why he had been hired. I decided, then, I would keep a close and cautious eye on this guy.

CHAPTER NINE

### THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT

The three of us stored the lunches Mrs. Mac had prepared in our saddlebags and headed into the hills. Slim lit a cigarette, and rode off at a gallop ahead of us with his smoke trailing behind. "Whew! Does that stink or what?" Katie asked. There was a definite odor I had never smelled before and didn't care to smell again. With Slim riding away from us, I decided to ask Katie why her dad had hired him.

"Katie, do you know why your father hired Slim? He doesn't seem like he fits in here." I asked.

"That's a long story, Ian," Katie answered. "I'll give you the short version. There's a prison down in Johnson City that Father has supplied beef to for years. He's become very close friends with Warden Harris, and over time they organized the annual Chafee County Summer Rodeo. Many of the prisoners take part, and Slim was one of those inmates. He's one of the best around at bareback ridin' and breakin' horses so father promised him a job when he got out. The rest is history. That was last year, and he's been here ever since," she ended.

"Now, I understand," I said, "but he is a creepy guy, and I'm going to watch him closely while I'm here."

"Just be careful," Katie advised.

Turning her horse abruptly, Katie gave her horse full rein, a quick knee in the ribs and headed out across the broad, green, but wet, valley ahead. "Catch me, Cowboy," she said playfully, driving her horse harder and faster and pulling ahead. I was up for the challenge and urged Jasper on.

"Come on, boy. Faster! Faster!" I whispered in his ear as I leaned forward against his long muscular neck. I wasn't going to let a girl beat me, I told myself. Shortly, I was gaining ground and beginning to close on her. She turned to look over her shoulder and gave a big smile as she did. **That's it!...** I thought to myself, **no girl's making fun of me.** All of a sudden, I saw a mass of rock hurtling down the side of the cliffs ahead of us. Surely, Katie would see the danger ahead and take action. My heart began beating faster. I could see Katie was totally unaware of what she was riding into. I started shouting wildly and pointing above as I did. "Watch out! Watch out! Stop!" She just kept riding toward the hills ahead, laughing all the time. I had to stop her somehow. I fiercely motioned her back, but she just waved at me. I began to panic; I just knew she was dead.

Then, out of nowhere, a horseman appeared directly ahead of Katie. She looked up. Startled, she quickly reined in her horse. The horseman pointed above to the chalk cliffs and the fast approaching avalanche. Katie glanced up again and saw the rocks coming her way uprooting any tree or shrub in its path. I had finally ridden up on her and yelled to her. "Follow me! Hurry!" We both frantically smacked our horses on their sides with the long, leather reins and headed toward an opening in the base of the cliff I had spotted. The going was now more difficult as we had left the soft, wet, green grass of the valley and were riding into the rock-covered creek bed at the base of the cliffs. "In here," I yelled to Katie, grabbing her horse's halter. We rode into the cave-like opening just in time. Turning our heads, we heard the thunderous sounds of the rock crashing down from above and saw the dust created by the rocks exploding on impact. We got our horses calmed down and walked to the entrance of the cave. There was a small amount of debris still falling, but the worst was over.

The once dry creek bed in front of us was now flowing with icy cold water directed from above by the avalanche. There were huge boulders and mounds of smaller ones piled high all around. "Whew! That was close," I said to Katie. I think she was in shock, and I could see her shaking as she cautiously stuck her head out into the thick, dusty air. She turned and, with tears streaming down her face, told me how grateful she felt.

"Ian, you saved my life. I don't know how to ever re-pay you."

"It's not necessary," I told her. " I'm glad we're both safe."

Wiping cobwebs from our heads and clothes, we inched our way into the daylight, leading our horses behind us. All of a sudden, we were alerted by our horses, snorting and pulling at the reins. We heard continual splashing around the bend in the gulch. Shortly a rider appeared among the large fallen boulders and scrub brush. In a few seconds we both recognized the stranger on horseback. It was Slim. As he slowly rode through the creek bed, his eyes met ours. There was a look of surprise on his face as he approached us and dismounted. We walked forward, each watching the other intently. Presently Slim and I were face-to-face staring into each other's eyes. "Are you alright?" Slim asked, trying to appear concerned.

"Wh – where did you come from?" Katie asked surprised.

"I heard the rock slide and came to investigate," Slim answered unconvincingly. By now Katie's teeth were chattering from standing in the icy, cold water. I was also interested how Slim happened to arrive so quickly after the landslide, but getting Katie home to a warm, dry house was more important right now. Slim walked slowly toward Katie, cautiously picking his way through the slippery creek bed. He reached out to grab the halter of Katie's horse, but she violently jerked her horse's reins and mounted quickly.

"Come on, Ian," Katie motioned. "Let's head back."

"Can you find your way back, Cowboy?" Slim asked in a smart alec tone. I turned my head and glared at him intently wanting him to get the message of my deep dislike for him. He looked directly at me with his little, beady eyes. He was showing me that his feelings for me were mutual. At least now we both knew where we stood. "You two kids better watch out. The boys said they saw a couple of cinnamon bears yesterday up near Heaven's Gate, and ya gotta go right past there goin back." Katie looked at me with a disgusted look on her face. Her silence said everything. Even this city boy knew we were in no danger.

The bears were getting ready to settle in for their long winter's nap, even if Slim were telling the truth. By now they were most likely sound asleep. We headed back, following the gulch. There was very little snow now because of the rain and scarcely any cold weather, other than the wind. This was probably the most beautiful spot I had ever seen. All the bunch grass throughout the valley waved in the chilly breeze like the vast green field of grain back home that surrounded the orphanage. There was a large lake in the middle of the valley that was bordered by huge graceful willows. It was as clear as glass, and I'll bet icy cold, as well, and teaming with the beautiful, mountain trout Charles had told me about. We continued on, and we came upon a small area that was white with snow, although the grass all around was a deep emerald green.

Katie had been very quiet until now and suddenly stopped her horse. "Ian, I believe you!" she said almost apologetically.

"You believe me about what?" I asked ignorantly.

"Your Indian!" she blurted out. "He saved my life! He really does exist! But, I know he can't. Oh! I'm so confused," she said, jumping off her horse in frustration.

"Katie what's wrong?" I asked her. Now, I was confused myself. She only looked at the ground and kicked at some small stones.

"Oh, you big fool. Don't you understand? That was your Indian, the one with the yellow moccasins. He saved my life." She was right. In all the excitement, I had forgotten about the mysterious horseman. Chills shot up and down my entire body, and it wasn't from the cold wind. "I have to show you something when we get home," Katie said, "but first I want to ride to the top of the cliff."

"What for?" I asked her, feeling a little confused.

"I don't believe that rock slide was an accident. I think Slim was responsible. There's the remnants of an old stagecoach road that runs along the bluff up there. Let's take a look and see if we can find anything," she said inquisitively. I could tell this was no ordinary girl. She was full of spunk and wouldn't back down from anything. This was my type of girl.

We carefully picked our way up the steep, rocky cliff toward the old stage road. You could see evidence of a rusted railroad track that ran parallel to the road above us as we rode higher. My imagination ran wild. I could picture trappers, traders, businessmen, politicians and even highwaymen that traveled this region daily. Mr. Mac had told me how this area once was home to the hunting camps of the Ute Indians. He had hundreds of arrowheads and other artifacts he had found, neatly displayed in glass cases back at the ranch. Some other time I would like to find some of my own, but presently Katie was on a mission, and I was just following.

We reached the top of the cliff and followed the old, worn road. You could see the farms and ranches spread out in the vast valley below and more remnants of the once well-traveled railroad. Katie was intensely scouring the ground as we traversed the muddy pathway, and then she abruptly stopped, peering at the ground below her. Jumping down from her horse, she kneeled down and picked something up. I dismounted and headed in her direction. She was holding something in her hands. "Ever see anything like this before?" she asked. I studied what she was holding.

"It's only a cigarette. What's the big deal?" I asked.

"Here, smell it," she said, pushing it toward my nose.

"Whew! Does that stink!" I said pulling my head back. Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. That's what Slim's cigarette smelled like when he rode off." We continued on foot investigating further as we walked.

"Look," Katie whispered. "Look at these hoof prints. They're all around and they're fresh." She was right. Even this green-horn could see that. If Katie was correct, we could be in danger. Why would Slim want to harm us, and just what was he hiding?

"We still can't prove anything, Katie," I said frustrated. "But we better keep a close eye on him. That's for sure."

Suddenly, time became important for us both. The wind was becoming colder, and snowflakes began falling. We were both shivering from being wet and agreed to head back. Mounting our horses, the race was on. We flew down the steep hill, stumbling over snow covered brush and wild blackberry vines. Katie was first to the bottom and pulled up to wait for me. We both rode off side-by-side, loping along slowly to help save our tired horses. Suddenly, Jasper reared into the air and gave a loud neigh. As he lowered his front hooves, I was surprised to see a bobcat running straight past our path. Jasper darted ahead some fifty yards toward the valley that stretched out before us before I could gain control once again. Behind me, Katie galloped in our direction, whooping it up as she did. "You know, for a city boy you handle a horse pretty well," she said smiling broadly. After my heart stopped beating wildly, we set out toward the ranch again. The wind seemed to carry the whinnies and snorts of our horses echoing throughout the valley. They wanted to head home as badly as we did. So, off we rode. Hopefully, this time there would be no more delays.

CHAPTER TEN

### PHANTOM RIDERS IN THE NIGHT

Arriving at the ranch about two hours later, we headed for the barn. Jeb was mucking out stalls, and Brad was working on the horses' feet. "Well, hello there, strangers," Jeb looked up and exclaimed. "You two look like a couple of drowned rats. You're back a little early, aren't you?" he asked surprised.

"We ran into a little trouble up around Chalk Cliff," Katie explained. "A rock slide almost buried us both."

"What?" Jeb exclaimed, acting somewhat panicky. Jeb wanted to know every little detail. The wind began whipping through the barn so Jeb took us into the warm tack room and sat us down. We willingly drank hot coffee and relayed our day's adventures, but purposefully left out our suspicions of Slim. For now, that would remain our secret. After we warmed ourselves and finished telling our story to Jeb, he told us to head for the house.

"What about our horses?" Katie asked.

"Don't worry," Jeb replied. "Brad and I'll cool 'em down and brush 'em. Take off."

"Thanks," Katie responded somewhat relieved. We turned and headed off at a quick pace with our heads bent forward, trying to evade the blustery weather.

"Beep...Beep" We turned to see Mr. Mac and Charles returning in the Jeep loaded with supplies. "Hey, kids!" Mr. Mac shouted. "How about a hand?" We walked slowly in their direction, not showing much enthusiasm.

"What happened to you two?" Charles asked. Knowing we couldn't go through another explanation, we asked if we could be excused. Our conditions must have been pretty obvious, because there weren't any questions asked. Inside we went, I to my room and Katie to hers.

I never realized a shower could ever feel as good as it did. When I exited the shower, every window, and mirror was saturated with fog, and my room looked like a scene from a horror movie. I walked toward my bed, turned around and fell flat on my back. I looked up at the vaulted ceiling with its large wooden beams, slowly closed my eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Startled, I jumped up and ran to my window to see what was going on, and where the sound was coming from. I could see Jeb running around the corner of the barn with his rifle in his hand shouting to Brad,

"He's coming your way!"

"Bang!" Then there was silence, except for that final shot that echoed throughout the hills above. I opened my window and stuck my head out into the cold, biting wind. Suddenly, rounding the corner of the barn, Jeb and Brad appeared pulling something behind them through the drifting snow. "Hey! Whatcha got?" I shouted. Brad looked up and smiled and then motioned to me to come on down. I quickly threw on my clothes and headed in their direction. By the time I reached the front door, I could see Mr. and Mrs. Mac and Katie all huddled together, smiling and gesturing with Jeb and Brad. I ran up to the group and asked excitedly. "What is it?"

"Holy cow!" I said, amazed at what I saw lying on the muddy ground in front of us. It was a massive, dark, brown bear. His huge paws were outstretched in front of him, eyes wide open and staring straight ahead. His powerful muscles bulged beneath his thick coat and appeared to twitch now and then. Charles walked up behind me and put that massive hand of his on my shoulder. I turned around, looked into his eyes, and we smiled at the same time.

"What do ya think?" Brad asked with a proud look on his face. "Have you ever seen anything like it? I got em right behind the ear."

"Never have," I responded enthusiastically. "That was a heck of a shot," Charles interjected.

"How about some shooting lessons sometime?" he asked, smiling.

"Sure thing, Charles," Brad answered. "Anytime." Brad was so excited about his kill, that Charles and I didn't have the heart to tell him of our exciting adventure in Hartsel. But, it certainly was getting more exciting by the day I thought. What would be next?

"Well, this calls for a celebration," Mr. Mac said as he patted Brad on his back. "Jeb, you know the routine." He continued, "Lots of wood, a big fire, fresh venison, elk and plenty of singin'. I want that bear skinned and lyin' on my floor. I've been lookin' for him for a long time, and I'm gonna love steppin' on him everyday. Okay, everybody: snow or no snow, we're havin' a party. See you behind the barn in a couple of hours, and don't forget your appetites."

The rest of the night seemed to fly by. Good food, a hot fire, lots of singing and joke telling. Everything was perfect until out of the darkness a form appeared on horseback, silhouetted against the roaring fire. Slim?...Where had he been? He rode over to where Jeb was sitting, dismounted and whispered into his ear. Jeb nodded, his head looked into the darkness and stood up. He appeared upset with Slim, and they both turned and walked into the barn.

"I've seen that look before," Katie said. "Slim's in trouble."

"We couldn't be so lucky," I answered. Everyone seemed to be scattering and heading in different directions. The ranch hands began putting out the fire, and Mr. and Mrs. Mac called to Katie and me to head back to the main house. Charles said goodnight and moved off toward the bunkhouse. It was another exciting day on what was turning out to be quite an adventure. After discussing the day, as we made our way to the house, we said goodnight and headed to our rooms. Shortly, there was nothing but silence other than an occasional mournful call of a far off coyote or the whistling of the cold, blustery wind.

After a while, sounds of hooves beating against the ground woke me out of a deep sleep. I went to my window and looked into the darkness. Three men on horseback were riding toward the hills behind the ranch. The dim glow of the barely visible moon seemed to be lighting their way as they rode hard and soon disappeared from sight. I quietly opened my door, walked down to Katie's room and roused her from her own deep sleep. "Ian," she whispered. "What do you want?"

"I just saw three riders heading toward the hills. I'm not sure, but it looked like one was Slim," I answered.

"What time is it?" she asked. I looked down at my watch.

"2:15"

"Go get dressed," she said. "Meet me in the barn." I hurried back to my room, being as quiet as possible, dressed and headed outside. Now, the snow was piling up, and the sleet was beating off my fast freezing face. I opened the barn door and stepped into the warm interior. Everything was dark except for a dim light emanating from the tack room. Walking slowly and carefully, I heard Katie come through the door behind me. She pulled the door behind her and dropped the heavy steel latch gently as she shut it and began walking in my direction. Katie stopped short of me and opened a stall door and peered in.

"You're right," she softly exclaimed. "Slim's horse is gone, and I'll bet he is, too. Come on. We'll find out. I know where his bunk is," she said excitedly. We opened a small door next to the grooming room and found ourselves no more than fifty feet from the bunkhouse, but we were standing in at least six inches of new, white, fluffy snow. We quickly made our way toward the old pine-sided building, crouching as we went. I could see visions of Sherlock Holmes doing the same thing in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. Now, Sherlock was my name, and mysteries were my game, I thought to myself. Katie brought me back to reality with a quick shove to my back, knocking me forward, face down, into the snow. With a slight giggle, she grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her toward the side of the building.

"Sh!" she whispered, holding her finger to her lips. We were directly below a window with our knees buried in the snow. "Slim's bunk is in front of this window," she whispered. "Can you see if he's in it?" I slowly rose and peered over the top of the window sill. His bunk was empty, and everyone else was sound asleep. I knelt down and whispered my findings to Katie. "So, it was Slim," she questioned out loud. "What's he up to?" she asked curiously. "Get our horse saddled," she whispered as she turned and crouched low on her way back toward the barn.

I followed, moving swiftly behind her. Once inside, we saddled up without delay and headed out into the blowing, night snow. Katie took the lead and galloped out ahead of me. The snow was definitely piling up. I could see her horse's hooves sink deep into the powder as she urged her on trying to catch Slim. I was right behind her wondering where we were headed, and what we would do when we got there. I was beginning to get an uncomfortable feeling about what we might be headed into. Suddenly, I saw Katie pull up ahead of me and look in my direction. As I rode up to her, she was kneeling down looking at some prints in the snow. "What do you see?" I asked.

"Three sets of hoof prints riding fast, heading toward St. Elmo," she answered. "But why?"

"I thought St. Elmo was a ghost town," I said, wondering the same thing.

"Come on. Let's keep going," she ordered. "It's beginning to snow harder." We mounted up and took off again. Riding hard and pushing our horses through the deepening snow, we arrived at an old dilapidated shack nestled at the base of the steep hills ahead. Once again Katie came to a halt and examined the snow. "That's interesting," Katie said rather mysteriously. "Now there are four sets of hoof prints. Somebody was obviously waiting here to join up with them. Come on. Let's go inside and see what's here." We tied our horses to an old half-fallen tree out front and followed footprints inside. There was no door, and the wind had swept the fresh snow into the old rotting interior. "Go get my flashlight out of my saddlebag, Ian," Katie ordered. "I can't see a thing." I turned and moved quickly. I tried to open the saddlebag to retrieve the flashlight, but my frozen fingers slowed my progress. "Help! Ian, help me!" came a loud scream from inside.

My head snapped in the direction of the old shack, and my eyes searched frantically for any sign of Katie. I pushed my hand hard and deep into the leather bag, pulled out the flashlight and darted back inside. "Katie! Katie! Where are you?" I frantically shined the light in every direction searching for any sign of Katie. "Katie! Katie! Come on Katie, this isn't funny anymore." I began to panic. There was nothing but an almost empty interior: an iron stove, a chair in pieces and a broken down old bookshelf attached to a wall.

"Help! Ian, I'm over here," came Katie's voice again.

"Where?" I shouted back.

"Over here at the bookcase," she screamed. I shined the flashlight in that direction but saw no Katie.

"Keep talking," I told her, "and I'll try to follow your voice."

"Here! Here! Over here," came her muffled cries. I moved toward the old broken down bookcase and shined the light on every board I could see. Still nothing.

"Bang on the wall, Katie," I shouted. "Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!" I moved closer as she pounded the wall. Finally, I could see dust falling from the shelf as my light reflected off the rotten wood. Startled, I jumped back. "Whoa!" My heart began racing, and blood rushed to my head. There in front of me were two eyes staring straight ahead through the old bookcase.

"It's me, old brave one," Katie yelled sarcastically. "Get me outta here."

"How?" I yelled back. "How'd you get in there?"

"I don't know. If I could remember, I'd get myself out," she said mocking me. I began pushing and pulling every old piece of wood I could see. Nothing moved in any direction. Up, down, sideways. I tried everything. Frustrated, I kicked at the base of the shelf, and suddenly it began to move. As it did, I stood back and watched...It begin to pivot. I shined the light waiting for Katie to rush out. But, no Katie. I yelled out to her.

"Where are you?"

"Down here!" she answered. I walked forward carefully, shining the light from side to side. As I did, the bookcase closed by itself again. "Be careful, Ian. There's a big hole ahead," came a voice from under the floor. I stopped dead in my tracks and shined my light downward. "Whew!" That was lucky, directly in front of me was a fairly large hole with a ladder leading down underground. I leaned over and shined the flashlight toward the bottom. Katie's blond hair and blue eyes were straining upward as she motioned to me to come down. I placed my feet precisely on each wooden step as I began my descent into the musty darkness below. When I reached the bottom, Katie grabbed firmly on to my arm.

"Shine the light around," she whispered. I turned and slowly rotated my body 360 degrees. Neither of us was prepared for what we saw. Out of the darkness appeared four wooden walls of pine, a cast iron pot belly stove, a pile of firewood neatly stacked in the corner and a table with four chairs sitting under a hanging oil lamp. "Oh, my gosh, what is this place?" Katie asked, her voice quivering. "I've been in this old cabin dozens of times over the years and never suspected this, and I'll bet Daddy doesn't know, either."

"Let's light the lamp and save batteries," I suggested. We tramped across the dirt floor toward the table. Shining the flashlight, we could see a deck of playing cards strewn across its top, cigarette butts all over, a half empty Cuttysark Whiskey bottle, broken matchsticks, probably used as money while playing cards and a book of matches. I grabbed the book of matches to light the oil lamp. "Buena Vista Tavern," I quietly said.

"What about Buena Vista Tavern," Katie asked inquisitively. Obviously she had heard me thinking out loud.

"These matches are from the tavern," I answered. I lit the lamp and adjusted the wick inside. We were in awe as we looked at our surroundings. It looked exactly like a cabin underground. The pine walls all appeared fairly new, the stove was still warm and a shelf in the corner was stacked with canned goods.

"That's strange," Katie said as she pointed to the small wooden door in the floor under the table. "What do you think that is?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," I told her. I slid the table aside and grabbed the small rope handle on the top to pull it open. "Stand back," I said as I gently moved her back with my arm. I gave a hard jerk upward, and the door released. As I applied a steady tug, the door opened up and into the room. I shined the light down into the pitch, black hole. "What the heck?" I asked in amazement.

"Let me see," Katie whispered excitedly as she inched her way forward. She hung her head out over the hole and peered intently into the darkness below us. There was a fairly shallow and somewhat small hole carved out of the earth with piles of something, filling up one corner covered by sheets of white plastic. The hole was shallow enough that I lowered myself down by hanging onto the edge of the wood of the door's frame. It was probably only five feet by five feet, but the floor and walls were made of aromatic cedar. It reminded me of my housemother's chest at the orphanage that always rested at the end of her bed. If the door to her room was ajar, and she opened that old antique chest, the fragrance of the wood would fill the entire dorm. That was a smell I would always remember. I pulled back the plastic to expose what had been so carefully hidden.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

### SECRET ROOM BEHIND THE WALL

There were rolls of paper with the seal of the United States of America and a stamp on each one that read, "Kansa City, Missouri Federal Reserve."

"What is it?" Katie asked from above.

"I'm not sure, exactly. They seem to be big rolls of paper. Wait a second," I continued. "There's some more boxes over here." I crawled on my hands and knees toward the stack of wooden boxes. Kneeling in front, I started counting. One, two, three...there were nine boxes, in all. Their tops were nailed shut and large stenciled letters on the side read, "Printers Ink – India Green." The top box's lid was nailed just enough to keep it from sliding off. I took out the pocketknife that Charles had given me for Christmas last year. It was a red Swiss Army knife that had different tools that could be unfolded and used in emergencies. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because it had come from Charles. I unfolded the flat tip screwdriver and carefully pried under the already loose top until it was entirely free. As I removed the wooden top I could see the shiny cans inside. I took one out and shined the flashlight to see what it was: " _PRINTERS' INK – distributed by Tyker – Colorado Springs, Colorado."_ I heard a "thump" and turned my head quickly. Katie had dropped down inside and was crawling in my direction.

"What is it?" Katie whispered.

"It says printers' ink," I answered holding a can up and shining the light on it. I twisted open the top and stuck my finger in. "Yep, it's ink," I said as I held up my half-green finger in the brightness of the flashlight. I put the cap on and slid the can back in the box.

"Fire up that stove, Red," came a muffled voice from above. Our hearts started racing, and we turned and crawled quickly toward the trap door. When we were ready to jump up and out, we could hear someone coming down the ladder as their boots hit each rung.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Katie whispered pushing me. "Close the trap door! Hurry, before they see us." That was my thought exactly. I stuck my arm up, grabbed the door and pulled it sharply down, careful not to make any noise. "Oh great!" Katie whispered. "We forgot the table. I know they'll notice that. I just know they will."

"Sh! It's too late now," I told her. "Just don't move." We sat there in total darkness. The only sound to be heard was our rapid breathing and heartbeats that sounded like jungle drums to us. "Clank! Thud! Thud! Thud!" It sounded like someone was adding wood to the stove.

"Whew! It's darn cold out there. Somethin's blowin' in tonight, boys," someone shouted. "Hank, what's this table doin' over here?"

"Over where?" came the reply.

"Somebody's moved it across the room. That's where."

"Oh, it was probably Slim when he stocked the goods, and he forgot to move it back," came what must have been Hank's voice. "You better check it out though, just to be safe," he added. I had visions of Red walking slowly our way and jerking open the trap door and discovering us both cowering below. Then my worst fears came true. The door slowly began to rise. Our hearts were beating wildly. This was it. We were surely goners now. As it rose I could see cowboy boots and blue jeans staring me in the face. I held the flashlight tightly in my hand, realizing that any second I might be forced to become a man quicker than even I wanted. Charles had taught some Karate classes at the orphanage, and I had caught on pretty fast, but was I ready for this? Katie was silent and kept her hands tightly wrapped around my arm.

"Pow! Pow! Pow!" The door dropped quickly. "Get up here, Red! Hurry!" We could hear the muffled cries from above, and Red's boots ascending the ladder. We waited a minute or two and began to slowly move.

"I'll kneel, and you stand on my back. Just push up the door and peek out," I whispered to Katie. She buried her knees in my back and reached upward slowly, pushing against the wooden door. "See anything?"

"No, there's nobody here," she said quietly.

"Good, let's get out of here, then." She pushed the door up and crawled out into the room above.

"It's all clear, Ian." I grabbed the frame and pulled myself up, resting on my elbows and wiggled out onto the dirt floor. After closing the door, we moved toward the ladder and waited silently at the bottom.

"What's the shootin' for? Are you crazy?" Red asked. "You'll wake up the whole darn valley."

"He just disappeared....just disappeared. I'm tellin' you. He just disappeared."

"Aw, quit babbling, Hank. Who disappeared?" Red asked, sounding frustrated.

"The Indian," Hank answered. "The Indian was standing right there by that old stove and he just vanished."

"Come on, Hank. You're nuts," Red shot back. Katie and I listened intently to the conversation above not knowing what to think.

"I shot him, Red but it went right through him. It didn't even phase him."

"Whad he look like?" Red asked.

"He looked like an Indian: a bow and arrows on his back and long hair with feathers in it. But it was strange; he had bright yellow moccasins," Hank said. Katie and I turned and stared at each other, and Katie gave out a quiet gasp. Now, I knew, I wasn't nuts. That was the same Indian Katie and I had both seen, and ours just seemed to vanish, also. "Come on. Let's get outta here, Red," Hank urged.

"You're crazy, Hank," Red shot back. "There's a bad storm comin' in over Cottonwood Pass, and I'm not getting caught in it for nothing."

"You can stay here if you want," Hank said, "but I'm leavin'. I'm not sleepin' around any ghost for you or anyone else."

"You're not dealin' with a full deck," Red said disgustedly. "Come on, let's get out of here before we can't move at all in that snow." We could hear them walking across the old wooden floor above our heads and then the sound of something sliding came shortly after that.

"That must be the old bookcase," Katie whispered. We waited until there was nothing but silence and then slowly made our way up the ladder with me going first.

I reached the top and cautiously peered over the edge across the floor. All was clear, and not a sound could be heard. I climbed onto the floor and turned around to help Katie up. We were right. As I turned on the flashlight, we could see the bookcase was tightly shut. Now, how to get out. I stepped forward and ran my hands slowly around the rough, splintered edges of the bookcase, trying to find our way out. Minutes went by as Katie complained about the cold. Then I suddenly remembered how I had stumbled on it before. Because that's exactly what had happened. I had stumbled, and I kicked the bottom with my foot, and it swung open. I started tapping the bottom with the toe of my boot. Nothing seemed to work, and frustration soon turned to anger. I slammed my foot hard into the corner, and like magic, it began to swing open.

"Give me your hand, Katie." I took hold of her as I led us through the hidden entrance.

"Let's get out of here!" Katie said frantically. "It's 4:40 and everyone will be up soon. Mom and Daddy will kill us both!" I turned to close the bookcase once more. By now I had located the secret latch and quickly closed it behind us. We ran outside into the blinding snow. _No horses!_ Our horses were gone. Then we both realized at the same time the reason no one had seen our horses tied out front. "Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!" We tramped through the snow toward the noise out back. There, under a tree were our horses tied neatly to an old bristlecone pine. "Who moved our horses?" Katie asked. We both looked at each other simultaneously.

"No! It can't be or could it?" Had our Indian saved us again? Maybe soon we would find out. But for now we swore to each other not to mention this to anyone. We mounted our horses and set out into the blizzard.

After fighting our way back through the drifting and biting winds, we finally reached the ranch. No lights. Whew! We were lucky. We put our horses away and ran to the house. "Here," Katie said, "follow me to the side door. We can sneak upstairs more easily." We opened the door slowly. There were no signs of life. "See you soon," Katie said smiling. "Get some rest." I went my way, and she went hers. I opened my door and fell flat on my bed. I think this was exactly the position I had been in before. This was a day I wouldn't soon forget. Little did I know how important it would be.

CHAPTER TWELVE

### YELLOW MOCASSINS

The next week was rather quiet compared to the excitement of the first few days. Katie and I cleaned horse stalls, stacked hay, groomed horses and spent a couple of days putting a fresh coat of linseed oil on the bunkhouse. This was certainly no dude ranch. I found out just how hard you had to work on a ranch this size. But, it was also fun.

Charles and I didn't spend much time with each other during the week, but I always knew he was close if I needed him. Just a wave or a smile from him brought me great comfort. Mr. and Mrs. MacVicar just carried on with business as usual and made me feel like one of the family. They were like the parents I never had but always wanted. Then, there was Slim. We kept an eye on Slim as we moved around the ranch. We watched him ride off toward the mountains behind the house many times and wondered what he was up to. And as far as our experience at the old cabin?...Well, we hadn't forgotten about it at all. Today was Friday, and the weekend was ahead. Katie and I had already discussed following Slim to see what he might be mixed up in. Tonight was going to be a quiet one. Katie and I were going to play a game or two of cards and then go to bed early. The weekends were ours to do as we pleased, and we had planned on getting up early and following Slim. We both knew there were some strange things happening, and Slim appeared to be deeply involved.

I opened my eyes, squinting as I did, as the sun's bright, early morning rays pierced the curtains in my room. Rolling over and covering my head with a pillow, I pulled my arm up and looked at my watch. Six forty...time to get up and get moving. After a quick shower I dressed and headed to the kitchen. There wasn't a sound to be heard, which was very strange.

"Good morning." I turned to enter the kitchen and saw Katie cooking eggs and bacon. "Want some breakfast?" Katie asked.

"You bet!" I answered, pulling up a chair. "Where's your mom and dad this morning?"

"They went into Salida to do some shopping and to show Charles the area," she said as she brought eggs to the table.

"Are you ready to get some answers to some questions today?" I asked. I was starving and loved a big breakfast. We usually didn't get much but cereal or oatmeal at the orphanage, so this was a real treat. Katie barely gave me a chance to take a few bites of the food she had prepared.

"Come here, Ian," Katie said excitedly grabbing me by my arm. "I can't wait any longer." She pulled me sharply after her as she opened up a heavy wooden door. She shut the door behind us and turned on the lights. My eyes lit up. The walls were covered with guns of all kinds, knives, beautiful rugs and a small cannon sat in the corner.

"Wow! Look at all these arrowheads." I placed my hands on the glass top of a large case holding hundreds of Indian artifacts. There were peace pipes, pieces of pottery, large spearheads, beaded belts and a long colorful Indian headdress. Directly behind the heavy wooden case, there were five sand paintings of varying sizes. I felt Katie's hand patting me on the shoulder.

"Come here," she urged as she pulled at my arm. "Close your eyes until I tell you to open them," she ordered. I closed my eyes as she slowly and carefully led me to her secret destination. "O.K.," she said as we suddenly stopped. "Open your eyes." I opened my eyes wide and stared straight ahead. My mouth dropped open, and I gasped.

"Oh, my gosh!" I stood frozen as chills raced up and down my spine. I couldn't speak, and the shock of seeing what I was looking at paralyzed me with fear.

"Ian, are you alright?" I was brought back to reality by Katie shaking my arm. "Do you see why my mom, dad and I had the strange look on our faces when you described the Indian you said you saw?" Katie asked. I still couldn't speak. "Ian? Do you hear me?"

"Tha...Tha...That's the Indian I saw!" I blurted out. "His yellow moccasins, the bow and arrows on his back...that's him!"

"I know," Katie shot back. "I always have believed you."

"Who is he, Katie?"

"His name is French Pete," she answered. "Daddy said he was a miner who came to Colorado in the 1870's to make his fortune in the gold and silver boom. He and some buddies worked at the old Mary Murphy mine, and one day the mine collapsed. French was hit on the head by a large beam and then buried alive in the collapsed mine. The story goes when they dug him out he was still alive, but he had lost his mind from the fear and being hit in the head. After that he was never the same. He began dressing as an Indian, built his house in an old deserted mine tunnel and led a very strange life."

"Then, what's his fame?" I asked interrupting Katie.

"Well," Katie went on, "as crazy as he was, he became one of the wealthiest men in the state after he hit a huge gold vein up in St. Elmo. When Mom and Dad took me to the Denver Museum, I saw where they had the largest gold nugget ever found in Colorado on display. It belonged to French Pete. That's who he was," Katie ended.

I stepped back and looked back up at the picture on the wall. "That's a great story, Katie," I said rather incredulously. "But we both saw him a few days ago. Explain that."

"Maybe he's one of the famous Ghosts of St. Elmo," Katie said laughingly.

"Laugh if you want, Katie, but remember; he saved our lives twice," I reminded her. With that remark, Katie quit laughing.

"Come on," Katie said. "Let's go finish breakfast."

We closed the big door behind us and quietly walked back to the kitchen. We finished eating breakfast without uttering a word to each other. It was obvious we were both deep in thought, thinking about French Pete and all the mysterious things that had been occurring lately. Katie broke the silence. "Well, Ian, where do we go today?"

"St. Elmo," I shot back without even thinking. "I have a feeling that's where we should start. We can't go back to the old cabin until it's dark, that's for sure. We've got to find out who Red and Hank are and Slim's relationship to them, if any."

"I agree," Katie uttered as she washed the morning's dishes. "But first get over here and help me dry and put these away." I looked at her and smiled.

"You're getting kind of bossy," I said, as I threw some soapsuds in her hair. She turned around, giggled and threw some right back at me. I think we both realized at that moment what good friends we were becoming.

We finished cleaning the house and headed toward the barn. "Beep! Beep!...Beep! Beep!" I turned and looked over my shoulder to see Mr. Mac and everyone else returning. The Jeep came to a stop in front of the house, and Charles' huge body appeared from inside. "Come here, Ian," Charles motioned to me, "I need some help." I walked in his direction wondering what was up.

"Boo!" I jumped backward as a figure from inside lurched at me.

"Zack!" I yelled out. "Zack!" We both ran toward each other giving high fives, jumping up and down, laughing, hooting and hollering. Here was my best buddy. I couldn't believe it! But, how? Everyone was standing around with big smiles on their faces...even Katie. There we stood with arms around each other's shoulders as I stared in disbelief. I looked toward Charles, waiting for an explanation. He didn't fail me. With that twinkle in his eyes and smile on his face, Charles came forward with his explanation.

"You can thank Mr. Bryant, Ian. This is part of the reward he's giving you two for solving the 'Mystery of Falcon Falls Lake.' That was quite a feat, and he truly appreciated it." My mind shot back to the previous year. Falcon Falls was where Zack and I had helped solve a twenty-year-old bank robbery and murder. Mr. Bryant owned the bank that was robbed and was a very close friend to the Police Chief who was murdered. He was also on the Board of Directors of the orphanage, a deacon in our church and, not to mention, the richest man in town. "You can thank him when you two guys return home, but for now just have fun," Charles ended.

"Don't worry, we will," I guaranteed Charles. "This is a great surprise!" Mr. Mac soon interrupted the festivities.

"Ian, take Zack up to your room and show him his bed."

"I sure will," I said. "It'll be my pleasure." Zack and I grabbed his bags and headed toward the house. What a vacation this would be. I couldn't wait to fill him in on Katie's and my adventures.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

### ZACK'S SURPRISE VISIT

Zack and I had been the best of buddies at the orphanage for as long as I could remember. There wasn't anything we didn't do together, and we never had any secrets from each other. We ran up the stairs and headed for our room. "Wow!" Zack exclaimed. "What a house."

"Wait until you see our room," I said as we headed down the long upstairs hallway. Arriving at our room, I stopped Zack. "You may have the pleasure, good buddy. Enter our castle," I said with a smile on my face. Zack lifted the latch of the heavy wood door and gave it a shove forward into the room. He stood there silently, moving his head slowly from one side of the room to the other.

"Holy cow! What a bedroom. I've never seen anything like this in my life."

"Go on in," I told him as I pushed him from behind. We both entered the room and closed the door behind us. We looked at each other, let out a big "Yahoo" and dove head first onto the two huge beds in front of us. We lay on our backs looking at the vaulted ceiling with its heavy wooden beams.

"How big is this place?" Zack asked.

"Katie told me they own about 2,000 acres," I replied. "You won't believe it. It has six barns, a huge lake that's fed by springs, all kinds of horses, chickens, goats and Katie."

"Katie? Oh, yeah. I was going to ask you about the pretty blonde," he smiled. "It looked like you two were pretty chummy when I drove in," Zack said teasingly.

"Aw, come on, Zack, she's a girl," I responded. "She's just a good friend," I said, but I could feel my face becoming red.

"Yeah, sure she is."

"Come on, Zack," I motioned. "Let's get going. We can talk all night long. I want you to see the rest of this place." We turned and headed outside. Mr. and Mrs. McVicar were standing there as we hit the bottom step.

"Whoa, fellas," Mr. Mac said. "Where ya goin so fast?"

"We're going to meet Katie at the barn," I answered. "Then we'll show Zack the ranch if that's alright, sir?"

"I think that'll be just fine," Mr. Mac offered. "Take Zack down and introduce him to Slim and have a horse saddled up. Do you ride, Zack?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. McVicar. I sure can," he answered.

"Then have a great day, boys! But before you head out, I'll have Mrs. Mac pack some grub for the three of you. Just come and pick it up before you take off...and just remember," he added, "it gets dark early so leave yourself plenty of time to get back."

"Yes, sir," we answered in unison. "We sure will." We headed outside into the biting, cold wind where only minutes before it had been pretty calm. "Feels like cold air is starting to blow into the valley from over Mt. Columbia," I said pointing it out to Zack. We headed for the barn, leaning into the falling snow and dropping temperatures. Snow was beginning to accumulate by the time we had reached the barn at the edge of the surrounding forest. Katie was standing at the entrance to the barn busily brushing her horse's shiny coat.

"Katie, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Zack."

"Hi, Zack," Katie responded in a somewhat flirting manner. "Ian has told me so much about you, and finally we get to meet." Katie had only just finished her greeting when Slim suddenly appeared from around the corner of the corral leading two saddled horses.

"What are you kids up to today?" the longhaired man demanded curtly, with his eyes squinting suspiciously.

"We're going to show my friend Zack the ranch," I responded, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "Slim, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Zack. He'll be staying here with me until I go back east."

"Just another brat," you could hear Slim mumbling under his breath. "Just another one to care for," he said as he tightened the horse's cinch, never looking in our direction. The three of us exchanged glances. When he was done, he turned to walk off.

"Slim!" Katie yelled. "Where's Jeb?"

"It's his day off," he yelled back over his shoulder. "What's it to ya?"

"What was that all about?" Zack asked rather concerned.

"Just mount up," Katie responded. "We'll explain it while we're riding." I told Katie what her father had said about food so we rode toward the house to pick it up.

Finally, we were on our way into the vast, cold prairie that stretched out in front of us. By the time we had reached the foothills ahead of us, we had brought Zack up to speed on all our adventures and suspicions. This included French Pete, our mysterious Indian. We continued riding toward St. Elmo when all of a sudden we spied a shadowy figure through the falling snow, as he disappeared into the cliff high above. We could hear the sound of muffled horses hooves hitting against the rock, but they suddenly stopped completely. "Come on," Katie urged, "or we'll lose him!"

"Lose who?" Zack asked. We whirled about and took off after Katie as she headed down the gulch, then climbed toward the cliff above. Zack just shook his head wondering where we were going. Flinging caution aside, we drove the horses along a narrow path up the side of the rocky cliff.

"This way," Katie motioned as we plunged through the waterfalls rushing from above. A minute later we all disappeared from view as we stood horse to horse behind the falling water. We found ourselves surrounded by brush and weeds that had grown from the sides of the hillside during a dry period in the past. There was little light coming through the falls, so I pulled my flashlight from my saddlebags and shined it around. We strained our eyes in the dimly lit cave behind the falls we were in and listened intently. We heard nothing but the sound of falling water and the sound of a howling coyote somewhere in the distance.

"There! Look over there," Zack whispered. I shined the light his way and picked up some horse tracks that led out of the cave and continued to the ridge above. In the meantime, Katie was on her knees examining something very closely.

"What is it, Katie?" I asked.

"Come here and see for yourself," she answered.

Zack and I dismounted and moved in her direction. "Look familiar?" she asked, holding something in the palm of her hand. I kneeled down and shined the light. She was holding two cigarette butts. I took them in my fingers and sniffed.

"Whew! Do they stink!" I said curling my nose. "Slim!" Katie and I immediately agreed. What was he up to? And where was he going?

"Great," Zack chimed in..."two Sherlock Holmes."

"Follow us, Zack. We have to follow these tracks." We all mounted up and continued along the rocky path following the tracks. We reached the top of the cliff, and the tracks disappeared. The wind and snow were blowing so hard any tracks that once showed were quickly covered. We continued slowly working our way along and being cautious not to get too close to the edge of the steep cliff. Katie, in her headstrong manner, was leading the way, with me behind her and Zack taking up the rear. Suddenly, Katie came to a stop, leaned over the side of her saddle and stared at the accumulating snow beneath her. Zack and I dismounted and walked forward to see what she was so intently studying. There were footprints, but they were too badly disturbed from the blustery winds.

"They're headed toward St. Elmo," Katie said, her eyes squinting suspiciously.

"Are you sure?" I asked, already knowing her answer and where we were headed next. Zack and I exchanged glances and just shook our heads.

"What's St. Elmo?" Zack asked me as we mounted our horses.

"It's a ghost town that's supposedly haunted," I answered.

"Not supposedly," Katie shot back. "It is haunted. It has been for years. There have been some very strange things happening up there. Sometimes late at night you can see weird blinking lights. I've seen it from my bedroom window before. I know they're real," she said emphatically.

"Haunted? Has anyone else seen the lights?" Zack questioned.

"I told Jeb about it one day, but he just passed it off as car lights from the highway below reflecting off the quartz rock of the cliffs."

"That explanation seems like a stretch," I shouted back to Katie, "but then again I'm only a city boy." I looked at Zack, and he looked back at me wrinkling his brow as he did so. We both knew that explanation was pretty weak. Katie took off heading towards St. Elmo without saying a word. Zack and I quickly turned and took off after her. By now the wind was howling ferociously, and we all knew we had better find shelter until the weather, hopefully, blew over.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

### MINE CAVE IN

We rode hard for about ten minutes until Katie abruptly pulled up to the entrance of an old mine and quickly slid off her saddle. We tied our horses to the decaying trunk of an old pinion pine and scouted around the area but could see no tracks or signs of anyone. I grabbed my flashlight from my saddlebags, turned it on, and we carefully entered the darkness leading into the side of the mountain. It was nothing like our entrance at Falcon Falls Lake back home. The three of us could easily stand erect and maneuver our way into its dark belly. As we trampled our way through the cold darkness, we listened intently for any sounds. We could see by the bright beam of light shining from the flash light that there was a tunnel straight ahead that sloped sharply downward into the musty darkness. As we trekked deeper into the bowels of the mine, we suddenly reached the flat floor of the cave and stopped in our tracks. There were the remnants of an old campfire, rusty cans, cigarette butts and a discarded shovel with a broken handle.

"Looks like someone visits here frequently," Zack said. His voice echoed hauntingly in the chilly cavern. I was about to reply when we heard the sound of muffled voices.

"Did you hear that?" Katie whispered.

"I sure did," I answered quietly. We all froze in our tracks, trying to become as one with the silence and darkness that surrounded us. As the three of us froze, the voices came closer.

"Ga – Ga – Ghosts," Zack stuttered as he grabbed my arm. We switched off the light and stood as still and quietly as possible.

The voices soon faded away as quickly as they had come. We waited cautiously, being quiet for a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. I guardedly moved away from the cave wall and turned on the light. Katie and Zack quickly moved in behind me. I kneeled down by an old campfire and searched through the ashes. I sifted through as carefully as possible hoping to find any clues as to who had been here. Zack and Katie both soon joined in. "Hey, what's this?" Zack asked, holding a piece of old wood. He rubbed it with his fingers and blew as much dirt away as he could. "I think this is a piece of bone," Zack said. "It's got a letter on it, I think."

"Let me see," Katie said excitedly as she jerked it from his hands. "It's a...I think it's a...it's a J...J...JG...the initials of someone named JG. JG? . .JG? . .Jeb Griswold! This belongs to Jeb," Katie said astonished.

"Who's Jeb?" Zack asked.

"He's our foreman," Katie answered.

"Your foreman? What's he doing in here?" Katie rubbed the piece harder.

"You know what this is?" Katie shot back. "This is a bone handle to his pistol. Keep looking," Katie said. "Maybe there's more." We all joined in and clawed at the loose, powdery soil around us. As cold as it was, we were all soon sweating and panting from all the excitement. Zack strode off by himself toward the broken shovel.

"Hey, you guys, what's this?" Zack asked. I shined the light quickly in his direction and saw he had what looked like a piece of paper in his hand. Katie and I stood up and walked in his direction.

Just as Zack sat down leaning against the wall of the mine, we heard a loud cracking noise from above. I quickly shined the light in the direction of the ominous sound. "Look out!" I cried out to Katie and Zack. I ran toward Zack and dove straight at him driving my shoulder hard into his stomach, knocking him backwards. No sooner had I done that than we heard a thunderous rumble and saw the ceiling was sagging and collapsing all around us. I quickly grabbed Katie's hand and pulled Zack by his shirt, running to the opposite side of the mine. Then we took shelter beneath an old, rusted, iron ore car. The sounds all around us rumbled with a deafening roar as the rocks smashed down on each other, exploding on impact.

"Holy cow!" Zack said, staring at the collapse in awe. "You saved our lives. That's another one I owe you, good buddy," he said, pushing his hand toward mine and squeezing it tightly as we shook. I knew in my heart how he felt, for I felt the same way about him. The bond we had developed in the orphanage was very strong. He was my family, and I was his. We were like brothers and watched out for each other and had shared many exciting times together.

I shined the light toward the cave-in but could see nothing through the thick, billowing dust. We started coughing and covering our mouths with our hands to help keep the dust from choking us. "Let's get out of here," Katie shouted. "I can't breathe."

"Don't panic, Katie. We'll be alright." Zack urged, trying to reassure her.

"How do we get out of here?" she shot back.

"Well, we'll...we'll...we'll just have to dig our way out," Zack answered. As the dust began to settle, we could see huge, jagged pieces of rock and rotting wooden timbers that had fallen from the ceiling above. We crawled out from beneath the old ore car as the dust began to slowly settle. I shined the light toward the tunnel we had entered through. It was totally blocked.

"Don't worry. We can still dig through," I tried to reassure them. "Here Katie, you shine the light while we try to move this stuff." Zack and I dug in and started moving pieces of stone and wood out of the way. In a few short minutes we were out of breath and soaked from head to toe with perspiration.

"We're not going to make it," Zack said panting harder. "We have no idea how far this cave-in extends."

"We can't give up," I quickly answered, trying to encourage Zack. I leaned back against the cold, damp wall to regain some energy. Katie turned off the light to conserve the batteries, and we sat still and silent in the cold darkness.

A few minutes had passed when Katie suddenly whispered, "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Come here," she said quietly. "Feel this." We carefully moved in her direction as she switched on the light. "Do you feel it?" Katie asked, holding her hand up in the air behind her. Zack and I put our hands by hers.

"Yeah! I do feel it. It's a breeze blowing," I said excitedly. "Come on! Let's dig." The three of us started pawing wildly at the loose stone behind us. We knew our situation was becoming desperate, and that thought alone drove us even harder. After what seemed like hours, we suddenly broke through the final foot, and Zack and I fell headfirst into a large, dimly lit cavern. We glanced back at Katie kneeling about eight feet above us shining the light our way.

"Wow! Another tunnel," she exclaimed. "Give me a hand and help get me down." Zack and I stood up, brushed ourselves off and climbed toward Katie. Zack took one arm, and I grabbed the other and gently helped her down. The three of us stood there looking around. "Looks like another tunnel," Katie said as she slowly and carefully walked forward. "Let's get out of here," she said as she walked in my direction. "Here. You lead the way," she said handing me the flashlight.

"Okay," I agreed as we all headed off single file into the unknown darkness. This passage way was much smaller and narrower and called for us to crawl on our hands and knees in some spots. We walked, crawled and slithered on our stomachs until at last we saw a glimmer of light. We were ecstatic and about to shout out with excitement about our success, when out of nowhere we heard the sound, once more, of muffled voices.

We all froze, not making a noise or moving a muscle. Was someone up ahead waiting for us? Putting my finger to my mouth, I motioned to Zack and Katie to be quiet. I started cautiously moving toward the voices and the entrance to the tunnel. I stopped quickly when I heard a man's voice. "Don't worry. Those bratty kids won't be nosin' round no more," he laughed. "I guess now they'll always be in the dark about us," the voice continued. "Get it?...In the dark?"

"Ha Ha Ha Ha," they all laughed.

"Never did like that little blond," came a gruff voice. "She was nothing but a spoiled brat."

In the meantime Katie had crawled forward and overheard their remarks. She looked at me and silently mouthed the word, "Slim." She was right. That was Slim's voice. But why?

"Are you sure that tunnel was completely blocked?" came an angry voice. "Get back in there and check! I don't want any slip-ups. Go in the side vent," the voice of mystery man ordered. I quickly turned and motioned to the both of them to back up. The whistling wind shooting through the mine helped cover up any noise we made as we quickly retreated.

Suddenly a man's figure appeared in the opening, and he began moving in our direction on all fours. We had backed up about fifty feet when we could see the approaching figure suddenly stop. But, why? The figure muttered something under his breath, sat back against the wall and lit up a cigarette. The unmistakable stench of the smoke drifted past our noses. There was no mistake; it was Slim. He sat there for a few minutes and then abruptly turned and headed back out toward the others. He stood up and stretched as he exited. "They're goners," he told the others. "It's nothing but a heap of rock in there. Old man McVicars gonna be one sad man tonight. Come on. Let's get outta here. We got work to do."

We could hear the whinny of horses as they headed away. Just to be on the safe side, we waited a few more minutes, then headed out into the cold, windy and snowy brightness. We had been gone for hours, and the snow had become quite deep. You could see the storm blowing across the wide valley below, and we realized this was our signal to get back to the ranch. We had traveled about fifteen miles over timbered ridges and stony, bad trails. Now, the trip home would be even tougher with the ice and snow accumulations of the last few hours. But, first we had to find our horses. We had entered the mine through one tunnel, but we were forced to exit from another. Where were we?

I walked forward a few steps, and discovered we were on a narrow trail that led to the valley below. We all trekked slowly being very cautious as we approached the side of the steep hill. Squinting and peering through the heavy snow and biting winds, we could barely make out the dark outline of a horse in the distance. "Come on. Let's get out of here before we freeze to death," Katie implored. There was no arguing with that statement. We started our descent down the narrow, slippery trail with me leading, Katie following and Zack taking up the rear, as usual. The hike down was long and steep and hard on our bodies as we slipped and fell frequently on the uneven terrain. By the time we finally reached the road below, we were all soaked and feeling icy cold. We took off running as best we could through the deep snow toward the horses. "Yes!" Katie shouted. "Let's get out of here!" We approached our horses and brushed the snow from the saddles and quickly mounted. Kneeing them hard, we set out heading into the cold and stormy, west wind.

Shortly, we arrived at the small creek we had ridden through, but by now it had become a raging torrent. We came to an abrupt halt so that we could survey how to proceed, and the horses began pawing at the snow to uncover any grass to chew. As we looked around, we could see snow slides on all the steep mountains that surrounded us and realized our travels were going to be very difficult. There were no signs of any wild game to be seen, and the valley seemed eerily quiet other than the harsh wind whistling through the pines scattered throughout the rocky cliffs.

"We're in trouble," Zack whispered in my ear, so as to not frighten Katie.

"It doesn't look good," I quietly answered. The snow was drifting badly and beginning to pile up.

"Follow me!" Katie yelled through the howling wind. "Let's head for Brice's Canyon." I hadn't heard of Brice's Canyon before this, but I knew Katie had grown up on this land and probably knew every square inch. This was becoming a horrible day, snowing and blowing furiously, and we all knew we had to get back to the ranch quickly. Our bodies were telling us so. I also knew enough about horses to realize they were in danger, also. If we allowed the horses to drink the icy, cold water for any extended time, they would become chilled and could rapidly lose strength and could die. We accepted Katie's invitation without a dissenting voice and kept up with her pace. We continued riding hard through the deepening snow and blowing gale until we could see a large rock formation ahead. We followed an old road, up a ravine, from the bottom of a mountain for about a mile.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

### SECRET PACT

Suddenly, there was no snow falling, and the raw winds subsided. I looked high above my head and saw a natural archway of rock that touched both sides of the narrow canyon and acted as a huge umbrella. No snow and only slight winds blowing...boy, was that a welcome relief. We decided we needed to be out of the bad weather for a rest and decided to eat the lunches Mrs. Mac had prepared. We all collected pieces of wood and started a fire to keep warm. As we sat eating our lunches, we discussed how to proceed from here, knowing we were still about five miles from the ranch. After an hour we smothered the campfire, tightened the cinches on our saddles and headed out, feeling a lot warmer and drier.

As we left the protection of the canyon's canopy, we were surprised at the dramatic change in the weather. Now, it was still cloudy, but the snow had all but stopped, and it was a little milder and much calmer. Mr. Mac had told me how fast the weather could change, and this was certainly the proof. We resumed our journey from Brice's Canyon and went down Coyote Gulch toward the old cabin where we had discovered the mystery men and the secret room. Suddenly, we encountered the most terrifying storm I had ever seen. Here we go again, I thought. Dark clouds once again appeared in the sky, and distant thunder seemed to growl a warning. We lost no time in changing our plans, and we made a run for it toward Lost Gorge. Rain and small hail fell in torrents to the degree our words to each other couldn't be heard through the deafening cracks of thunder. To make matters worse, each clap of thunder was preceded by blinding flashes of lightening that terrified our horses, as well as us. The storm lasted the entire ride home.

Finally! We had reached the barn. I was so exhausted that I could scarcely dismount and stand up. We pulled open the huge barn door and quickly ran in while leading our horses behind. There were a few men at the other end busily engaged in brushing some horses and cleaning the mud from their hooves. We walked slowly in their direction and stopped behind them.

"Hi, Slim!" Katie blurted out, tapping him on the shoulder. Slim whirled around astonished to hear her voice. His eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped in disbelief. He said nothing, but the look on his face told the story. "Have a good day, Slim?" Katie continued, with a smile on her face. "Take care of our horses. That's an order! We're going to the house." She hesitated for a few moments staring intensely at Slim and then turned and headed toward the warmth of the ranch. Zack and I looked at each other, smiled and headed into the downpour, trailing closely behind her.

We had galloped through the cold, blinding snow and the driving, icy rains mile after mile. We drove our horses with gentle coaxing; at last, we would be enjoying the warmth and safety of our rooms. "I'm hungry and thirsty," Zack said politely to Katie. "How about you? Do you think it's time to eat yet?"

"Follow me, first," Katie responded. "We have to talk." We followed her through a small side door where boots and coats of all kinds lined the walls. She cautiously glanced around outside before she quickly closed the door behind her and switched on a small table lamp. "Let's all make a pact," she whispered. "We can't let anyone know about what happened today or say anything about Slim and those other riders."

"What are you planning to do next?" I asked rather puzzled.

"I think there's a connection between Slim and those guys in the old cabin," she said excitedly, "and we're going to find out what it is. What I've been wondering is where do the other guys disappear to, and what are they hiding? Why are there hidden rooms in the old cabin? What about the ink and paper we found hidden under the trap door? Why do they want to get rid of us? We have to be getting very close to something they're hiding. But, what?"

Zack and I exchanged glances and then I said, "I agree, but shouldn't we go to the sheriff or at least tell your dad?"

"No!" Katie shot back emphatically. "We'll solve this ourselves." You could sense her determination and excitement, so Zack and I both agreed not to say anything to anyone. Katie grabbed both our arms tightly. "You have to promise me...both of you," she implored.

"We promise," I assured her, wondering what we were getting into.

Suddenly the door flew open letting in the bright light from the large living room. Mr. Mac gave us a start as he peered into the darker room we were in. "Well, hello. Where have you been all day? You look like a bunch of drowned rats," he smiled. We all looked at each other. He was right. We looked pretty pathetic. Katie's long, blond hair hung straight down to her shoulders, and her clothes were soaked and filthy. Zack and I were in just as bad a condition. "You better get upstairs and get out of those clothes and take a warm shower," he suggested. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour." We didn't have to be told twice. We moved past Mr. Mac and headed upstairs.

"Remember," Katie shouted out as we climbed the stairs.

"Don't worry," we answered back. "See you at dinner." We pushed open the door and fell exhausted onto our beds...wet clothes and all. What a day this had been, and what a vacation this was turning out to be.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

### UNDERGROUND AND SCARED

After a huge meal and a good night's sleep, we were awakened by the sound of a chainsaw running. I walked to the window and saw Charles and Mr. Mac cutting up a huge pine tree that had fallen across the driveway. I was looking at a beautiful, clear, blue sky and the snow covered mountain peaks when I noticed Slim and Jeb standing by the corner of the barn staring directly into my eyes. When they noticed I was aware of their behavior, they quickly averted their attention away from me. I moved quickly back into the room and woke Zack.

"Come on. Wake up sleepy head," I yelled, jumping onto Zack's bed. "Let's get moving." We showered and dressed for the new day wondering what adventures lay ahead. As we opened the door to head downstairs, the tempting aroma of sizzling bacon and coffee drifted toward both our nostrils. We raced down the stairs toward the kitchen.

"Hello, guys," came a voice. "What's the hurry?" We looked over our shoulders and saw Charles carrying a cup of coffee.

"We're just heading for breakfast," I answered.

"Well, have a good day and stay out of trouble," he said as he went back outside. We made a hasty retreat to the kitchen where we were ushered into breakfast by Katie who arrived at the same time.

"Good morning, Mother," Katie said as she walked forward and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, Mrs. McVicar," Zack and I said, almost in unison.

"Hello, boys. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, ma'am," I answered for the both of us. "Slept like a baby."

"Good. We want you both to enjoy yourselves," she said.

"Katie, I'm going into town for groceries. Clean up after you're done, will you?" she said taking off her apron.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll see you later, dear. Have fun and be careful." None of us knew how prophetic her suggestion would be. But, we knew from our past experiences that this day, most likely, would not be boring. We sat eating our breakfasts and discussing the day's plans when Zack leaned back in his chair and removed something from his pocket.

"Hey, look at this," he said unfolding a small slip of paper. "I thought I lost it."

"What is it?" Katie asked.

"It's the piece of paper I found in the campfire in the cave."

"You mean those are the same pants you wore yesterday?" Katie asked, holding her nose. "Oooh!...stinky," she smiled.

"After that rain they're sure clean, and they did dry overnight," Zack answered back somewhat offended. We all started to laugh. Zack unfolded the paper and laid it on the table. We could see faded printing, but the ink had run and made it almost illegible. Katie grabbed it and studied it carefully.

"'eral Res,' 'eeral Rese.' What do those letters mean?" she questioned out loud. "'eral Rese,'" she repeated time after time. "I know I've seen them before, but where?"

"I know, Katie!" I popped up as I could feel shivers shoot up and down my spine. "Do you remember in the old shack the paper and ink we discovered? Give me a pencil. Quick!" I took the pencil and filled in the blanks. "Watch this," I said excitedly. " _Fed_...eral, Rese... _rve_ ,... _Federal Reserve_."

"That's it!" Katie shouted out loud. "You're right!" Like a light bulb going on in my head, it suddenly hit me. "Holy cow! They're making money! They're counterfeiters."

The telephone in the living room rang sharply, and Katie bounded in that direction to answer it. "Hello, McVicars' residence," she answered. "Hi, Sheriff Parks. Yes, sir, I sure will; he's outside. Would you like to speak to him now? Yes, sir, I'll tell him. Goodbye." Katie hung up and walked quickly to the door. Opening it, she walked out into a beautiful, clear day. "Daddy, Sheriff Parks just called, and he wanted me to tell you he was on his way up to see you."

"Ok, dear. Thanks. We'll be right here." Puzzled, Katie turned and walked back inside.

"What's the matter?" I asked Katie, as I was concerned about the strange look on her face. Mysterious situations were certainly nothing new to Zack and me; so this was just another day. Zack, winking at me, said,

"What's wrong, Katie? Are you going to jail?"

"No!" the pretty blonde shot back, not amused. "Something's up."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Sheriff Parks never comes up here if he doesn't have a reason," she answered. "Daddy and he haven't been friends for years. He used to work at the prison down in town when Dad was on the board of directors. Sheriff Parks ran some cattle and supplied beef to the prison for meals. He did it for years and made good money until Daddy had his contract revoked for conflict of interest. He swore he would get even with him, and today they very seldom speak. But, strangest of all is that he's never been up to the ranch, and now he's coming. Something's up," she concluded. We returned to the kitchen and set to work preparing lunch to take with us for the day. We sat for a few minutes discussing the day's plans and unanimously arrived at the same conclusion. Today, we would go to the old shack and get to the bottom of the secrets it held.

Katie, Zack and I saddled our horses and set off down across the valley toward the old, dilapidated shack. We came to a fork on the trail and rode up the left one that rounded the mountain leading high above us. At Katie's beckoning, we left the trail and eased our horses onto a rocky ledge overgrown with weeds and scrub brush. Katie pulled up and dismounted. "I think we better use the back route to the shack," Katie said rather uneasily.

"That's a good idea," I agreed as we all secured our horses to trees.

We headed down a wet but sandy trail toward the back of the shack. The trees above us filtered out most of the morning sun because they were so tightly interlaced, forming a thick natural canopy, even without their summer leaves. We carefully worked our way down the rocky, rutty hillside careful to avoid any loose materials that could force us to lose our footing and fall below. "Only one at a time," Katie ordered. "The path's too narrow."

"I'll go first," I volunteered to Katie and Zack. I carefully began my downward trek toward the shack below. It took only a few minutes to complete my descent, and I turned and yelled for Katie to come next. "Come on, Katie. You're next." After a few minutes of futile waiting and calling out to Katie and Zack, I became alarmed; no answer. Perspiration began to trickle down my half frozen face, and a feeling of growing concern began to envelop my body. Where did they go?

I carefully started to climb to my friends above. I reached the top, stood erect and looked in all directions. There was no one to be seen. I walked slowly, examining the ground below as I did. I could see boot prints and what appeared to be scuff marks leading into a thick pine grove. I pressed on relentlessly, trying to forget about the briars tearing into my skin and trousers. About an hour passed, as I continued combing through the brush. There was nothing to be seen. I searched the pine grove grass until I came upon a small stream. Tired and discouraged I sat down on a large rock in the creek. I knew they had to cross somewhere. I began to zigzag along the bank for any signs. Suddenly, I came upon some broken vegetation. Grasping some broken branches, I followed a path to an incline above me. I moved ahead slowly, examining every piece of broken wood and smashed grass. My heart sank; there in front of me lay a broken pistol grip. My mind began doing strange things as I moved the bone handle around in my hand. I realized immediately where it came from. It was Katie's. It was the one she had found in the old mine. She was leaving me a trail marker and maybe more. This was Jeb's. Did he have anything to do with this?

I doubted it.

I continued following the path carefully, scanning from side to side searching for any clues in my friends' disappearance. My heart began to pound wildly because I knew that Zack and Katie were in deep trouble. What could I do? I closed my eyes and thought of Charles. If he were here, he would know what to do. I was startled by the sound of a horse whinnying and jumped into the bushes next to the rock I was on. Peeking around the side, I saw a bizarre sight. There on a horse straight ahead of me was an Indian on horseback waving at me to follow him. He had yellow moccasins on his feet and long white hair hanging to the middle of his back. The hair on my arms stood straight up, and my legs felt weak...I was scared stiff. What should I do? Run, or take a chance and follow him? If he wanted to harm me, he could have a long time ago, but he didn't. Besides, he had saved our lives a couple of times already. "What was I talking about?" I asked myself. There's no such thing as ghosts,...or was there?

I decided I would take a chance and go with him. He turned his horse and looked back in my direction. Slowly he headed off toward the hillside, making sure that I was always in his sight. I noticed a narrow muddy road that branched off to the right along the creek's edge. Judging from the undergrowth on and along the old path, it didn't appear to be used very often. The Indian stopped ahead of me and pointed in a certain direction. It must mean something, I thought, so I proceeded to the spot he was pointing out. My eyes opened wide. In front of me was a small opening to a cave in the side of the hill. I sneaked up to the entrance area and turned to look at the Indian. He was gone! He had just vanished without any noise or sound to be heard.

"No! No!" a muffled voice cried out from inside. "Don't come in!" Just at that moment, someone sneaked up behind me and hit me over my head. When I woke up, Slim's ugly face was peering down at me with a wide smirk from one side of his face to the other.

"Hey, there, dude boy. What you doin'? Tryin' to get some sleep? We've got you right where we want you, and you won't be messin' in our business no more, smart boy." I slowly opened my eyes and felt the lump on the back of my head. "Ow!" It sure was sore. I leaned back on my elbows and looked around the interior of the cave. There in the corner with tape over their mouths were Katie and Zack, staring wide eyed directly at me. I looked over at the cave entrance and saw that nobody was around.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Slim hissed, quickly moving in my direction. "You're not going anywhere!" Katie and Zack were bound hand and foot and tied tightly to chairs. Grunts came from my two friends, but the gang that had us only laughed and pointed, making fun. My mind whirled with all the unanswered questions I was beginning to have. Who were these guys and what were they going to do to all of us? But, most of all the Indian, who seemed to appear and disappear as he wanted to, was making me question whether or not there really were such things as ghosts. After all, he did get me here, I thought. Now, maybe he'll get us out. Zack looked directly into my eyes and slowly tilted his head to his right. I realized he was sending me a message to look in that direction. Turning slowly, as if I were trying to stand up, I pretended to fall forward in the direction Zack had directed me and peered into the darkness at the end of the cave. I could barely make out the outline of a figure sitting at a dimly lit table with his back to me. I felt a sharp pain in the small of my back as someone from behind struck me with his boot, making me fall forward onto the ground, once again. Writhing in pain and trying to catch my breath, I rolled over on my back and looked up at Slim's ugly face. That very next moment, Slim pulled me up, whirled me around and thrust me in the direction of Katie and Zack. I fell forward into the wall of the cave bouncing onto the ground face first.

"Are you all right, Ian?" came a voice out of the darkness at one end of the cave. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to a guest of Mr. Mac's." The voice was very familiar, and the name that went with it became more apparent as the silhouette began to emerge slowly and mysteriously from the cold, darkness in the direction of the table. Jeb!...I couldn't believe it. There, standing directly in front of me was Mr. Mac's foreman.

"I'm sorry about this, Ian, but you kids were just getting a little too nosey for your own good. Now, we don't have any choice but to get rid of all three of you." Now, I was certain that the partially burned paper Zack had found, the old broken pistol grip Katie had, the ink and printing paper we had found in the old cabin, were all tied together. Everything began to fit together like pieces of a giant puzzle. These guys were making money, all right. They were all counterfeiters! " Tie 'em all up tight and gag them," Jeb snapped. "Then we'll leave 'em here to freeze and starve to death and then drop their bodies in one of those old deep mine shafts up in St. Elmo. Mr. Mac will think that they just had a real bad accident of some kind and were victims of another cold, Colorado winter."

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Laughter echoed throughout the cave as everyone enjoyed our destiny, except us. Slim put tape over my mouth and eyes as well as Katie and Zack's, then secured our feet and arms to our chairs. "Good luck, kids. OK, everyone, mount up, and we'll meet tomorrow at the hideout for instructions." We waited for a few minutes in the cold, damp cave and made no movements at all. By the sound of things, everyone seemed to have cleared out, and it became deafly silent in our cold prison. I could hear the muffled voices of Katie and Zack through their taped mouths. Trying to rock in my chair and tip myself over, I jerked to one side and fell. I began trying to roll, but the frame of the chair made it almost impossible. I scooted slowly, moving inch by inch until I finally could feel another chair up against my shoulder.

"Is that you, Ian?" came Zack's voice.

"Yeah, hold still," I whispered. "I'll try and knock your chair over, so get ready." I maneuvered my fingertips close to the legs of his chair and grasped them as tightly as I could. When I had a good hold on them, I rolled toward him and pushed hard. I strained and thrust with all my weight until he slowly fell over onto his side.

"Now what, Mr. Smart guy," Zack cracked back.

"Sh!" I whispered to Zack as I stretched my tied hands toward his. "They may be close, and we sure don't need another visit from them anytime soon."

"Hey! How about me?" Katie whispered.

"Don't worry, Katie,"I assured her. "We won't forget you." I tried to push myself up against Zack and reach my fingers toward the ropes that were tied around his wrists. I told Zack to push against me to give me as much slack in the rope as he could, so that I could try to untie his knots. We both worked, for what seemed like an eternity, and finally the rope on Zack began to loosen. We tore at the ropes frantically, realizing we were so close and that the gang that had captured us could return at anytime. At last the ropes on Zack's wrists loosened, and he quickly untied them. Before they had barely fallen to the ground, he ripped the remaining tape from his mouth and was feverishly working on the rope around his ankles. He rested on his knees totally exhausted, then moved quickly to me and then to Katie to remove our remaining restraints.

We all looked at each other, but not a word was spoken. We all knew that we couldn't take any chances that someone could be outside the cave opening waiting for us. We used our fingers to signal to each other what our next moves would be and then cautiously moved toward the entrance. Several minutes ticked by as we stood quietly, not moving. Then we peered out the opening. I carefully moved the brush aside that was hiding the entrance and looked out, squinting into the brightness of the falling snow. I turned to Zack and told him the coast was clear. We all moved outside and stood tall to stretch and get our bearings.

"Do you remember anything that they said when you were being held?" I asked them both. "How about any strange voices?"

"Well, I did hear someone that sounded familiar, but I can't put a name with the voice," Katie answered. "I can't believe Jeb is involved with that gang," said Katie. "Jeb, of all people. Daddy isn't going to believe this. What do we do now?" Katie whispered. "We can't go back to the ranch yet because Jeb thinks we're tied up in this cave. And if we do, Mom and Dad could be in danger from Jeb and Slim."

"They said they were going to meet at the hideout later," Zack answered. "All we have to do now is figure out a plan to capture the entire gang. That shouldn't be too difficult," he quipped.

"Before we can do anything, we better get out of this cold and find some protection, or we won't have to worry about Jeb or Slim," I said. "Let's head back and see if our horses are still where we left them. Oh, by the way," I said turning around and staring at Katie and Zack, "Our friend the Indian showed me where you two were being held prisoner." I turned and slowly walked away. I didn't take the time to see the expressions on their faces after I hit them with that remark, but I know I had a slight smirk on mine when I said it. After all, I'm sure they thought I was crazy.

We followed along the creek bed, keeping an eye on their tracks as we went. We knew that was our best bet if we wanted to get back to our horses. We were all glumly silent as we realized that our chances of finding our horses would grow slimmer as the darkness would set in. Zack examined the ground along the creek bed up ahead of us. He was down on all four as we approached. I dropped to my knees right beside him and asked him what was up. "They split up here", Zack said. "Look at these tracks." He was right. You could plainly see tracks going off in two different directions.

"Well, which ones do we follow?" Katie asked.

"We know the sun sets in the west, and I see the sun setting out my window every night over Mt. Columbia, so I assume Columbia is over there," I said, pointing toward the large mountain behind us. "So, if we go directly the way we're going, we should find our horses since they were left on the trail between the ranch and Mt. Columbia."

"Now, if that makes any sense at all, I'm your grandmother's uncle", Zack shot back.

"Just believe me and follow my lead," I told them, only half believing what I had just said myself. I didn't let either one of them know that I had no idea at all what the plan would be for the three of us in the next hour or so. What would Charles do? He always had an answer for everything. If we returned to the ranch, we would certainly be seen and put the whole family in jeopardy. But, if we stayed out too much longer, everyone in the valley would be up here looking for us. "That's it!" I turned and screamed to Katie and Zack.

"What is it?" Katie whispered as she held her finger up to her nose for me to be quiet.

"If we let them come looking for us, then we'll have a better chance to get your mom and dad and Charles alone before Jeb and Slim know we're alive," I answered.

"Let's split up and go in different directions," Zack suggested. "That way, if any of us is caught, then at least one of the other ones will have a better chance to get help."

"But, if one of us gets in trouble, then there will be no one to help him out," Katie disagreed. "Why don't we just stick together and try to make it back to the ranch?"

"That's crazy, Katie," Zack answered. "We've got to get proof that these guys are making money, or they may get away with everything they've done so far. It would be their word against ours. We've got to split up and go in different directions. That's our only chance to get help."

I stood there silent in the wind that was beginning to pick up as small flakes of snow began sticking to my already soaked clothes. Where was my Indian friend when I really needed him? I felt responsible for getting us into this mess with all my talk of an Indian in yellow moccasins, and I was about ready to make a decision on what we would do. Whether I was correct or not, I would act as though I was confident in my decision. "We're going to stick together and make sure these guys are caught and locked up," I said, as I turned and faced Zack and Katie. "They've pushed us around long enough and I'm getting tired of it." They both looked at me with wide eyes and then stared at each other.

"Now, that's the guy that I know," said Zack. "Let's get out of here and get help before we freeze to death." We all turned and headed in the direction that the sun was setting while watching for tracks as we plodded steadily through the falling snow. I could see in Katie's eyes that she was tired and scared. I didn't want her to know that I was, also. I stared into the darkening sky and realized that we wouldn't make it back to the ranch before darkness fell.

"We better find a place to stay for the night," I turned and suggested to the other two. "We'll never make it out of here tonight. Look how dark it's beginning to get, and the snow's falling harder."

"But, we've got to!" Katie urged. "My mom and dad will be worried to death."

"Ian's right, Katie," Zack agreed. "It will be too dangerous if we get caught in this weather. We could end up being another statistic in a cold Colorado winter. Besides, I'm way too pretty to die this young." Katie managed a nervous smile and begrudgingly agreed that we were both right. I set out first, leading the way as Katie followed with Zack bringing up the rear. We trudged through the deepening snow and could hear the coyotes in the distance getting ready for their hunting trips, when all of a sudden. "W....hoa!" "Help m........eeeeeee!" I could feel myself falling through space, and then I hit something hard underneath me. "Ow!" I groaned and rolled over to look above me. I could see a little daylight and two faces staring down into the hole that I was now a prisoner in. I must have fallen at least fifteen feet, and I pulled myself up slowly to see if everything was still intact. Things seemed to work pretty well, and I was satisfied that I was very lucky.

"Are you alright, Ian?" Katie shouted from above.

"I'm OK. I think," I answered back, not quite sure myself.

"What's down there, old buddy," Zack excitedly yelled.

"I'm not sure, but it sure is dark" I shot back. "Katie, do you still have those matches?" I hopefully yelled up.

"Yes, if they're still dry," she answered. "I'll look." There was a long pause, and then her head appeared at the opening once again. "Here they are," she shouted down, "and they're still dry."

"Great! Throw them down so I can see what's down here." She threw the matches to me, and I lit one to see what was surrounding me. It was a huge cave with a soft dirt floor and a small, narrow path leading out the other end from where I was standing. "Ouch!"

"What's the matter?" Zack shouted down.

"Oh, nothing, I just burned my finger with the match. That's all. I'll see if I can find something to make a torch with." I wandered around carefully in the darkness of the cave, lit another match and spied some pieces of wood stacked in a corner. I quickly moved in that direction and grabbed a long piece for my torch. I removed my jacket and shirt and took off my tee shirt and then re-dressed quickly. It was cold. I wrapped the tee shirt around the stick and lit it. Success! The torch immediately filled the room with light.

"What can we do, buddy?" Zack asked from above. "Do you want us to come down, or should we try to get you up?"

"Try to find an old fallen tree, that's not too big but long enough to stick into the hole and rest it on the bottom of the cave floor, and then you two can shimmy down it to join me. But first, let me see where this cave goes, so we all don't get stuck down here."

"OK, but don't take too long. It's getting cold and dark," Katie implored.

"Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can. Just stay where you are." I headed off into the interior of the dark and dank cave with a certain amount of trepidation, but I knew that I had to find us a way out or at least some shelter for the night. I was just hoping that I wasn't going to run into some sort of ambush ahead. There was nothing but narrow tunnels to crawl through and bare, damp walls totally surrounding me. Although, it was a lot warmer down here than up there, I thought. We would be safe here. Suddenly, the passage I was crawling through opened up into a large, cavernous, stone hall. I held my torch up and probed the musty darkness to see what could possibly be around. I could see what looked like stone icicles hanging from the ceiling and a few outcroppings of rock scattered around, as well. I pushed my torch ahead of me as I guardedly inched my way forward, but there was nothing that appeared out of the ordinary other than what I assumed would be in an old cave. Again, I came to an area in front of me that was very narrow and only about four feet high. My face and clothes were covered with sticky, uncomfortable cobwebs. I fell to my knees and proceeded to make my way through the narrow tunnel. Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. I could hear a faint sound ahead of me that sounded like running water. I slowly headed forward into the darkness toward the sound. That's what it was. Now, getting even closer, I could hear the faint rumbling of running water even more clearly.

All of a sudden I let out a cry. "Holy Cow!" I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. I was at the end of my tunnel, lying on my stomach and looking down on a huge underground lake. On the opposite side of where I was, there was a rumbling waterfall that fell at least fifty feet below into the dark water. I stared up above me, and I could see that my tunnel was midway between the vaulted ceiling of the cave and the water below. I looked in all directions as I scoured the walls that surrounded me. There was a large boulder to my right that hung precariously out over the edge of the sheer wall that dropped straight into the water. It looked as though I could possibly maneuver my way onto the top and maybe get a better idea of what was on the other side. I carefully made my way onto its slippery surface and worked my way to the other side. I reached what I thought was the end of my exploring, when all of a sudden, I couldn't believe my eyes. This was certainly a day of surprises. I wiped the icy, cold spray from the falls out of my eyes and stared in disbelief.

There was a long, winding, stone step path carved out of the side of the wall leading to the ground and water below me. Along the steps were old torches set strategically along the way. I took what was left of my torches and tried to light them as I excitedly proceeded downward. But, would they light? Yes! The first torch ignited immediately, and I proceeded to light the rest as I made my way toward the bottom. It was cold, but I was soaked with perspiration from all the excitement. The path turned and twisted its way plunging downward following the steep incline. Finally, I was at the bottom, standing on a solid rock foundation. Now, I could only stare in amazement and wonder at what I had found. There was plenty of room to have shelter and build a fire for all of us. ALL OF US! It suddenly hit me that I had forgotten about Zack and Katie in all my excitement. I had to get to them quickly. They were probably freezing and wondering where I was. I hurriedly, but cautiously, made my way up the stairs and back the same way I had come. It seemed as though it took me a lot less time to return to my friends. I exited the narrow tunnel that I had been exploring and stood erect on the cave floor that I had fallen onto. "Hey, you guys," I shouted above. "Is there anybody up there?"

"Whew," came a sound from above. "Where've you been, Ian?" Katie disgustedly called down as she peered over the edge. "You've had us worried to death. What took you so long? We thought that maybe you had been captured, again. Couldn't you have been a little more considerate? Don't you think we care about you? I don't know if I'm ever going to speak to you again."

"Katie...Katie, if you'll just calm down and give me a chance to answer. I'll explain."

"Where have you been, Ian?" Zack's voice came right after that. "It's about time you got back. We're freezing to death up here."

"OK, I've got the picture. How about you two just layin off of me. I know you missed me," I snickered.

"You've got a lot of nerve saying that," Katie chided in. "What makes you think we care at all?"

"Well, don't you?" I smiled and asked. I could see the big smile on Zack's face. He turned and asked Katie.

"Well? He asked you a question. Aren't you going to answer?" Katie just snorted and started walking away. "Come on, Katie," Zack called. "We were only kidding." In a minute or two, everything was back to normal.

"Will you forgive me?" I jokingly pleaded with Katie.

"Let's just drop it!" Katie shot back. "I don't appreciate your humor." Zack and I both broke out into laughter at the same time, but we had other things on our minds and proceeded to the problem at hand.

"You're not going to believe what I found down here. You're just not going to believe it," I teased them. "But first we have to get you two down here."

"Down there? Are you sure about that?" Zack wondered.

"Oh! I'm positive," I quickly answered. "You will be, too," I somewhat cryptically added. "You will be, too. Did you locate a fallen tree like I asked?"

"Yeah, we found one. What do you want us to do with it?" Katie asked.

"Stick it into the hole, and I'll grab the end to keep it steady while you lean the top against the edge of the hole up there. Then take turns and shimmy down the trunk like you would a pole until you reach the bottom."

Zack told Katie to go first, and she grabbed tightly hugging the trunk and slowly worked her way down to my waiting arms. "Well, hello there Katie. How've you been?" I asked in an obviously joking manner. She just gave me a half-hearted disgusted look and walked away. I smiled and turned my attention to Zack as he headed down next.

"It's good to see you ol' buddy," Zack greeted me. "You'll have to fill me in."

"You're not going to believe what I found down here. It's like nothing that I've ever seen in my life. Come on just follow me," I urged, full of excitement. "I'll go first. Katie, you follow behind me, and Zack will take up the rear."

"I can't go into there," Katie pleaded. "I can't stand small places. Especially small, tight, dark places," she added.

"Don't worry, Katie," I assured her. "We'll take good care of you. There's nothing to worry about. I promise you that it won't take us very long to get where I'm taking you, and you won't be disappointed. That's for sure."

"I'm scared, Ian. It's dark down here," she fearfully added.

"It'll be all right," I tried to assure her, once again. "Pretty soon it'll be all over, and we'll build a fire and get warm." Zack was unusually quiet and just listened as I was trying my best to make Katie comfortable with our impending journey through the dark, tight tunnel. As I glanced over in Zack's direction, he seemed to pick up on the fact that I needed some re-enforcing remarks from him to Katie, as well.

"Aw, Katie. Everything will be just fine," Zack promised Katie. "Ian knows what he's doing. He wouldn't put you in danger for anything. I know him too well for that."

"Well, okay," Katie said, accepting what Zack was promising her. "But you're both forgetting that Mom and Daddy will be worried to death when we don't show up at the ranch. They'll have the whole valley looking for us."

"You know; maybe that's exactly what we want them to do," Ian shot back. "That's it! We want them to look for us. That way Jeb, Slim and their gang won't have any idea that we've escaped, and that'll give us an opportunity to set a trap for all of them without your family being in danger. If the gang doesn't think that we've contacted your family, or that they know anything of their counterfeiting ring, then they'll be relaxed and off guard when we set a trap to capture them all."

"You know what?" Zack responded. "You're a pretty smart guy sometimes. But, how exactly do you think we're going to capture the entire gang by ourselves?" he mockingly asked.

"That I haven't quite figured out yet myself," I answered. "But for now we better get going, or we're not going to be able to set a trap for anyone." We all agreed and set out in the order that I had suggested earlier in our conversation. I proceeded to lead the way, bending, crawling and squeezing our way through the narrow, damp passages that I had explored earlier. I could hear Katie breathing heavily as she stayed close behind me. I stopped for a second to make sure that Katie was all right, and after she assured me she was, we resumed our exploration and journey moving deeper and deeper into the belly of the mountain. Suddenly, I stopped moving ahead and asked if anyone heard anything. There was dead silence as we waited in the darkness. I had extinguished the torch in case we had company in the tunnel by the names of Jeb and Slim. I hoped that wouldn't come true.The only sound to be heard was Katie's heavy breathing and a mysterious sound in the distance that seemed to be moving toward us at a fairly rapid rate. I could feel Katie squeeze my shoulder as we sat silently and cautiously in the musty darkness. The fear in all of us all could be easily felt by our total silence. Suddenly there was a massive rush of thundering wings rushing past us and over our heads. We could feel the air movement created, by what we had now figured out were the wings of a massive cloud of bats exiting through our escape route. "Get down on your stomachs and cover your head!" I shouted out. "They'll be past us in a minute."

"Oh, Ian. I'm scared. I'm so scared," Katie's quivering voice rang out. "Get me out of here. I want to go home," she begged. I turned around, moved closer to her and put my arms around her to protect her from the onslaught of the rather scary sounds emitted from the thick cloud of bats flying above us. She buried her head into my chest and squeezed me tightly, not uttering a word. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the deafening roar of the bats disappeared, and then there was total silence. We all sat there, not saying a word. Finally, Zack moved in our direction and asked if everyone was all right. Feeling better now that the bats had gone, Katie pulled herself away from me and regained her composure. "Thank you, Ian," she offered.

"For what?" I asked.

"Just for being you; you're very special." I could tell that she was sincere by her tone and that we were maybe becoming closer friends than I had anticipated. I quickly changed the subject, as I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that Zack was obviously aware of what was going on.

"Let's get going," I said as I started our journey once again, after lighting our shrinking torch. I slowly crept forward through the dark tunnel ahead. For some reason it seemed as though it was getting slightly warmer the further we proceeded into the cave. I hadn't noticed that before, but I just assumed that was because I was already soaked from the falling snow before I had fallen into the hole.

"Do you smell that"? Zack asked.

"Smell what? I answered.

"I smell it, too," Katie answered. "It stinks. It smells like rotten eggs." I hadn't noticed it before in all the excitement, but there was a definite odor in the air, and it seemed to get stronger as we continued. Soon we came to a marker in the tunnel that I had made where there was a second path that went off in another direction.

"This way," I pointed, as we continued our trek toward my discovery. "We don't want to get lost in here or we never will see your parents or daylight again," I suggested. Accepting what I had said, they followed my lead as I continued to slowly make my way to the underground lake. Within minutes I started to hear the faint sound of the running water that I knew was ahead. Katie and Zack must have realized the same thing.

"What's that sound?" Zack asked.

"Good grief! Not again," Katie shouted out. "Please, no more bats!"

"Don't worry, Katie. This is a good surprise," I assured her. "Just follow me." Accepting what I had said, they continued following closely behind me. Soon we were there. As we rounded the final corner in our trek, there was a deafening roar. Zack and Katie quickly made their way next to me. There, down below was my secret. The entire, mammoth cave and lake were lit up by the torches that I had lit, all of which were still burning. The light reflected off the wet, stonewalls and illuminated the entire cavernous area like a huge crystal chandelier. You could see frightening shadows displayed on the water below and the cave walls, as well. Though they appeared as ghostly apparitions, everyone knew that they were created by the flickering lights of the torches hanging along the walls. But with the noise of the falls and the shimmering reflections floating above the surface of the water, it was somewhat alarming to us all. I looked over at Katie and Zack as they stared in disbelief at the sight before them.

"Oh, my gosh! What in the world is this?" Katie asked, staring in disbelief. Zack just slouched back against the wall and stared, not saying a word. Encouraged by what they both saw in front of them, they urged me to press on and show them what else I had found. Once again, I proceeded to work my way carefully over the slippery, wet surface of the large boulder to my right, urging them to carefully follow. We made our way over the top to where the spiral steps leading downward began. As we wound our way along the narrow steps, the path became not much more than a narrow ledge where some of the rock had been eroded away from the falling water over the years. There was nothing but a sheer drop off at some areas, and we all realized that with a single, careless step, we could plunge to the jagged rocks that spread out below along the shores of the lake. That, we all knew, could be deadly. Soon we were standing at the bottom of the steps, staring up at the point where we had started. It had to be more than 100 feet to that point, and the ceiling of the cave must have risen another 100 feet above that. All of a sudden all the questions began at once.

"What is this place? Who made the steps? Who lives here?" Katie asked in amazement. "I've never heard of anything like this in all my life and I live here," she continued. Zack had walked over to the edge of the lake and was splashing water onto his face.

"Wow! This water's warm, but boy, does it stink," he said with a disgusted look on his face. "It smells like rotten eggs."

"Rotten eggs?" Katie questioned. She walked over to where Zack was bent over and cupped her hands to gather some water. "Whew! This is a sulfur spring that's fed by that waterfall. That's weird. I've never heard of anything like it around here."

"Can we drink it?" Zack and I asked.

"You can drink it, but you better boil it first to kill any bacteria," Katie answered.

"Can we swim in it, too?" Zack and I hopefully questioned.

"Sure. A lot of people pay a lot of money to soak in the springs down in Nathrop. They travel here from all over the country," Katie answered.

"Well, I'll be. You pay good money to come and take a bath, and you stink more when you're done than before you started. Only in America," Zack laughed. "Only in America." Zack and I looked at each other, rolled our heads backward and laughed hysterically. Katie seemed to find the humor in it, also. We looked over, and she had a broad smile and toothy grin on her pretty face. Finally, we were seeing the Katie that we both had seen before.

"What do we do now?" Katie asked.

"There's only one thing we can do," I answered. "We're here for the night, at least. So we better build a fire to dry off and try to make a place to sleep."

"I've got some bad news, good buddy," Zack shot back. "In case you haven't noticed, we don't have any food." I was lost for words. He was right. We had nothing at all to eat.

"Maybe not," Katie quickly answered. "I may have an answer for that problem." Zack and I looked at each other and waited for her suggestion. "You see that waterfall?" she asked.

"Yeah," we both answered in unison.

"Well, I'm guessing that falls has to be fed by water runoff from the mountains, and what swims in water?"

"Fish!" we both shouted together.

"Of course! That's right," she answered, "to be correct, trout, mountain trout."

"All right!" Zack shouted. "Let's go get them. Wait a minute," he thought. "How?" I had an idea and told Zack to follow me. I started climbing along the narrow ledge leading up to the top of the falls. The mist was spraying us both as we trekked upward to the roaring water. At one point we were actually under the falls but soon emerged on the other side. We were totally soaked and looked like drowned rats. Finally, we arrived at the top. It was nothing but raw power, and we knew that one misstep could drown either one of us if we took that plunge. We reached a flat area on an adjoining rock plateau and stood standing and staring at the fast flowing water.

"Take your shirt off, Zack and give it to me," I shouted over the awesome noise of the roaring falls. Without any questions at all, Zack handed me his shirt. I had removed my good shirt and was now bare- chested. I had used my tee shirt for the torch and that turned out to be a good idea. And if this worked out, it would be well worth it, also. I carefully tied the two shirts together, pulling the knot very tightly. "Here. Grab this end and I'll grab the other." There was a small, slippery rock about three feet out in the water, and I carefully maneuvered myself onto it. "Put the shirt into the water when I tell you to," I shouted to Zack. "Hang on tightly, or the water will pull it out of your hands." Zack nodded in approval. "Now!" I yelled to Zack. "Now!"

There was nothing in the shirts, and we pulled them out quickly. "That's all right," I shouted. "Let's try again." We both readied ourselves for the next try. "Now!" I shouted even louder. "Now!" We swung the shirts into the water and left them there for about one minute. "Pull out!" I shouted to Zack. "Pull out!"

"Yes! Yes!" came a shout from Zack. "We've got one. No! We've got two!" I moved as quickly as possible toward Zack and folded the shirts so that the fish were trapped.

"All right!" I shouted. "That's a start. Let's get these down below and make a fire." We carefully worked our way down the slippery face of the rock to our new home below. Jumping the last three feet onto the ground, we hurried to show Katie our catch. As we rounded the base of the cliff, we were astounded at what we saw. There was Katie, standing by a small fire throwing on small pieces of, what looked like, old driftwood. She looked our way with that big, warm smile proudly showing off her abilities. Now, that was some girl, I thought. But, I guess I already knew that.

"Great fire!" Zack complimented Katie, as he proudly held up the fish we had caught. Katie turned our way again and saw the fish Zack was holding.

"Wow! How'd you catch those?" she said excitedly. We explained our rather ingenious fishing method, and she responded in a very favorable way, exclaiming how impressed she was with our abilities. Zack and I took our shirts and laid them over a rock close by the fire so that they would dry out. "Here, give me those fish, and I'll clean them so we can eat. I'm starved." Katie suggested. "My dad taught me to clean fish from the time I was 8 years old. He used to say if you can catch them and eat them, then you can learn to clean them, and I did."

"OK with us," Zack answered. "We'll try to find more wood for the fire while you're cooking." Zack and I headed off into the darker part of the cave to see if we could find more fuel for the fire. We scrutinized every square inch of the cave's floor as we searched for anything that was out of the ordinary. We turned over rocks, looked closely at the cave's walls, and stared into the small lake out in front of us, but saw nothing unusual. My mind was drumming up all kinds of theories as to what it was that we had found. Was it an old hideout for the Spanish Conquistadors? Was it where outlaws used to hide from the lawmen when they were on the run? Had the Indians in this area used this for shelter from the cold, killing, Colorado winters? My mind was running wild with romantic theories for its use. How old was it? I silently questioned. Then, I was brought back to reality with the voice of Zack calling behind me.

"Hey, Ian, Hey, good buddy. What you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing. I just was wondering what this was used for. Come on. Let's extinguish the torches above so that we don't run out of fuel if we need them later." We started our journey up the stairs to the top, once again. We reached the top, stood and stared at the floor below and could see Katie's silhouette against the roaring fire as she was busily preparing the fish to cook. Zack and I then sat quietly on a large boulder, not saying a word to each other. Finally, after a few minutes Zack mentioned the orphanage and our friends we had left behind.

"What do you think Jackie or Willy would think of this?" Zack asked. "Do you think they'd be jealous of our adventure?"

"Sometimes I think they would," I smiled. "But right now, I don't think they would trade places with us. Do you?" We both had a big laugh over that one. "Come on," I said as I pulled Zack by his arm. "Let's put out the torches and get back down to Katie."

"Hey, guys. Dinner's ready," Katie informed us, as we reached the floor of the cave at our camp.

"Sure does smell good," Zack exclaimed. "What, no paper plates?" he sarcastically joked.

"No. Just fish, fish and fish," she shot immediately back at Zack with a smirk on her face. "Grab a wooden skewer. But, be careful; they'll be hot!" she warned. I looked at the wooden skewers she had fashioned from smaller branches and silently remarked to myself how ingenious this girl really was. We sat there in total silence pulling small pieces of fish from the bones and savoring every little morsel. It wasn't a lot, but it sure did taste good.

"If we could only trap those guys," Zack suddenly blurted out, somewhat questioningly.

"Sounds great to me," I answered with a mouthful of fish, "but for now, let's just eat and rest. Tomorrow's another day." We completed our gourmet fish dinner in not too much time and then leaned back against the rocks that each one of us had chosen.

"I'll do the dishes," Zack said as he stood up and moved toward the fire. He bent over picked up the skewers and tossed them into the middle of the flames. "Now, that's the kind of dishes I like to do, quick and easy." We all started laughing in unison, tossing our heads backward and roaring with enthusiasm. After our good belly laugh at Zack's expense, I walked over to the clothes that were drying and took mine and slid it over my head onto my shoulders. Even with the fire, it was beginning to get cooler and quite damp with the falls and the lake stretching out in front of us.

"We'll have to keep the fire going all night,' I told Zack and Katie. "I'll take the first shift, and Zack will take the second shift. Katie, you just sleep, and we'll wake you if there's a problem."

"I can do my share, Ian," Katie fired back pretty hotly. "Don't you worry about me."

"Whoa, Katie, I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought that you deserved more rest since we're depending on you for the good cooking." She looked at me intently and somewhat suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, Ian," she responded. "I guess I'm just a little more tired and worried than I thought." She slowly moved into the shadows created by the fire and lay down on the soft, dirt floor and closed her eyes. Within a few, short minutes, she was sound asleep as she rested her head on her hands. Zack and I piled more wood close by so that it was easily accessible when we needed to feed the fire, and then he went to find a place to rest, as well.

"See you soon, ol' buddy. If anything comes up, wake me."

"Don't worry. Just get some good rest," I urged.

I sat there in the silence and stared out through the waning light of the fire as it flickered and cast shadows over the water. The silence was eerie, and the darkness seemed as though it was beginning to creep in closer and closer to me as the night went on. I could feel the cool breeze and mist created by the falls as it plummeted into the lake. I could smell the nasty stink created by the underground spring that filled the air we were breathing and hung heavily over our heads. I leaned back against my rock and found myself mesmerized by the action of the water washing against the shoreline. I could feel my head nodding off now and then, and I fought to keep myself alert and awake. I got up, added wood to the fire and checked in on Katie and Zack. They were both sound asleep, curled up on their sides, not moving. They were great friends, I thought, and if I had to be in this situation with anyone, I would want it to be them. I returned to my rock and resumed my waiting and daydreaming. Quite a while went by and then curiously, I thought I saw a strange reflection out of the corner of my eye. I turned abruptly in the direction that it had appeared, but there was nothing. My imagination must be playing tricks on me because I was tired, I thought. I told myself I had to stay alert, and I stared out into the darkness. The next thing I knew, I found myself lying on my side curled up in a little ball.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

### GOLD! LOTS OF GOLD

I opened my eyes, jumped up and looked around. The fire was still blazing, but there was a strange smell of meat cooking that was floating through the entire cave. I walked over to the fire and stared in disbelief. My heart began to beat wildly, and my body began to shake. There in front of me cooking on the fire was what looked to be rabbit, and there was a basket of fish, berries of some nature and a canteen of something lying next to them. I couldn't speak; I was in total shock. I reached for the large canteen and carefully smelled and then tasted the contents. Water! It was fresh, cold water. I sat down on the floor, scratched my head and looked in amazement. Who, what, how, why?.... Every question possible flooded my mind. I slowly stood up and walked around our campsite. There were no footprints to be seen anywhere. Cold chills ran up and down my spine, and I felt as though the cave around me was spinning. I began to feel weaker and fell on my knees onto the dirt floor.

Suddenly, I heard a sound and looked in the direction it was coming from. High atop the steps leading upward, I saw a lone figure standing on a ledge of rock jutting out over the camp we had built. With his head pointing downward and looking directly at me, he extended his arm out and pointed his hand upward. Just as suddenly as he had appeared, he seemed to vanish into thin air. This time there was no disputing what I had seen. I had distinctly seen the yellow moccasins he was wearing. His ghostly figure was eerily lit by our campfire reflecting off the walls of the musty darkness that had us in its clutch. My fear was quickly disappearing. I realized now that he meant us no harm, but that he was our protector and had been watching over us from the very beginning. I heard Zack moan and glanced his way as he was rolling over to get more comfortable. Do I wake him? I didn't have any idea how to explain what I had just experienced, nor did I think he would believe me.

I turned and looked at the ledge above where the vision had appeared to me, when suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jerked around and screamed. "No!" My voice, reaching an intense crescendo gasped, "Help!" "Help!" The shrill sound of my intense fear was echoing throughout the cave. The face I was staring wide-eyed at was Zack's. He fell backward into the darkness and stared at me, not saying a word. Katie had also jumped up upon hearing my shrieking voice and stood staring at me in shock, not knowing what to do. I gathered my composure and slowly moved toward my friends. "I'm sorry, you guys," I timidly and somewhat embarrassingly offered. "I guess I was just startled at Zack coming up behind me. Besides that, boy, do I have a lot to tell you two."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Katie asked with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine, but I'm sorry I scared you both," I assured them.

"Hey, look! Where'd all this stuff come from?" Zack exclaimed. "Berries, meat cooking on the fire and where did this canteen come from?" Katie walked in the direction of the fire pit and stared at our newly found bounty.

"Ian, where did you get this stuff?"

"Boy, this is an old canteen. Look it says 3rd Cavalry," Zack exclaimed. I walked in his direction and held it in my hands. Sure enough, at the very bottom of the canteen were the words 3rd Cavalry scratched into the metal. This reinforced my feelings that I would have trouble breaking my news to them, and I knew that my story was going to sound unbelievable. There was no way that I could relate this saga other than the unbelievable way it had occurred.

"I think that you both better sit down and prepare yourselves for what you're going to hear," I suggested. Katie and Zack just turned, wrinkled their brows, stared at each other and slowly took their seats.

"While you're talking, we'll eat this food. We wouldn't want it to burn or go to waste," Zack quipped.

"That's my buddy, always thinking about his stomach," I smiled. "Maybe you'll need something to take your mind off my story. That may be a good idea." Katie and Zack looked at each other, with great concern etched on their faces. "This food and the canteen, my friends," I continued, "is all courtesy of our Indian friend with the yellow moccasins." Zack's jaw dropped, and his food fell from his hands. Katie screamed with fear.

"I want to go home! Now!" She started running for the steps leading upward, and I quickly ran after her. I caught her and put my hands tightly around her waist as she wildly kicked her legs in the air while flailing her arms. "Let me go! I want to go home!" she screamed.

"Katie, Katie," I implored. "Calm down. Please calm down." She slumped to the ground and put her head in her hands and sobbed. I sat down beside her and tried to assure her that everything would be fine. Zack also did his best to let her know that she would be all right. After a few minutes of collecting herself and getting her emotions under control, we all moved back to the fire. Once again, they took their seats and looked at me to begin my story. I stared at them, moving my eyes from one to the other as I laid out the entire scenario of what had happened. I could see the disbelief in their eyes, and the fear that consumed them. I continued for another few minutes and then waited for their responses. There was nothing but silence as they sat quietly and thought about what I had said.

Finally, Zack volunteered his opinion as to what he had heard. "Well, if I hadn't seen this food, I would have thought you were just tired and were hallucinating. But, I also know how honest you are and what we've been through together. I believe you, Ian. I don't know how or why, but I believe you really did see something."

"It wasn't something!" I shot back. "It was the Indian in the yellow moccasins. He's a ghost! I know he's a ghost! Come here. Look at this," I said pointing at the bare ground.

"Look at what?" Zack questioned.

"That's exactly the problem!" I shot back excitedly. "Do you see any foot prints? Anywhere! Look all around. There's absolutely nothing." Katie and Zack both walked slowly around our camping area staring intensely at the ground.

"Nothing! There's nothing at all. Not a sign of anything or anyone," Katie said, obviously surprised. We continued on our search scanning every square inch of ground. There was nothing. I bent over and splashed the warm water from the lake on my face to clear my head. Zack and Katie followed closely behind me and did the same thing. We sat silently, staring out at the smelly lake in front of us. No one could think of anything to say. We all lay on our backs, resting and thinking about what our next move should be. "Look at that light," Katie suddenly shouted excitedly. "Look how bright it is."

We all jumped up and stared at the bright, narrow beam of light that was piercing the interior of the cave. It seemed to emanate from the very top of the ceiling above the falls. As minutes flew by, the beam grew wider and brighter. We turned, and our eyes were drawn to where the light was shining on the cave's walls. It stayed on one area and lit it up very brightly. I walked along the path of the light and arrived at the spot illuminated on the wall. My eyes lit up, and I shouted to the others to join me.

"Come here! Quick! Look at this!" They ran to me as fast as they could and stared in disbelief at what they saw. You could see the faint outlines of carvings in the side of the wall. As we stood there the light began to move lower down the wall until it stopped at one area. "Zack, get your shirt wet so I can wash some of this crud off the wall and see what this says" I shouted. "Come on, hurry up!" Shortly, Zack returned with his wet shirt in hand and handed it to me. I carefully rubbed it over the lit up area and the dirt dissolved and ran down the walls, uncovering mysterious writings.

"Is that an 'M'?" Katie asked. "Yes! That's an 'M' and another 'M'," she said rubbing furiously at the wall. I kept washing the wall as I followed the light downward. By now, Katie and Zack were heaving with excitement and had forgotten about the dilemma at hand.

"Those are arrows!" Zack shouted. "Look, they're going all the way to the ground." It was obvious that he was correct, and now our excitement was filling the cave with our shouting. Soon we had completed cleaning the wall and stood studying what was in front of us.

"'M', 'M' and arrows pointing downward," Katie stood repeating to herself. "'M,' 'M' with arrows pointing downward."

"This has to be something big," Zack exclaimed. "The light, the letters, the arrows....someone's trying to tell us something. I've got a feeling this is something really big."

"Oh! My goodness," Katie muttered quietly. "This has something to do with the Mary Murphy mine. Sure, 'M' 'M'...Mary Murphy."

"Who's Mary Murphy?" Zack asked unaware that Katie had explained the legend of French Pete and the Mary Murphy Mine to me earlier.

"I'll tell you later," I answered. "Right now, let's solve this mystery first."

"Come on!" Katie urged. "Let's dig where the arrows point and see if we find anything."

"Great idea, Katie! Come on, Zack. Let's get started. Grab a piece of wood and start digging." Starting at the base of the wall we started digging in an ever widening circle to about three feet deep. But, there was nothing. We were all sweating and frustrated after our long fruitless attempt at solving our mystery. Disappointed, we sat back against the cold wall to cool ourselves.

"Something has to be down there. There has to be something," Katie insisted. She ran her fingers over the wall, studying every inch of its surface. Minutes had passed, and Zack and I had gotten our energy back. "That's it! I'm sure that's it!" Katie cried out. "Come here! Hurry!" Not sure if Katie had really figured anything out, we quickly did as she had directed. "Look here, guys. What do you see?" she asked.

"Two letters and some arrows pointing downward," Zack answered.

"What do you see, Ian?" she asked me. "Two letters and some arrows; the same thing Zack sees," I repeated.

"You're both correct," she taunted us. "But, how many arrows do you see? That's the question," she continued. Zack and I counted in silence and arrived at the same number.

"There are five arrows pointing downward!" Zack volunteered.

"You're exactly correct," she smiled. "My guess is that every arrow stands for one foot in depth," she continued. "And if I'm correct, you have about another two feet to dig, so let's get going boys," she coyly suggested. We both began to dig furiously at our existing hole, and soon we came upon something hard. We couldn't get our sticks into the ground any further. Frantically, we removed the remaining soil with our hands. Within minutes we had uncovered our find and could go no further.

"Quick! Bring me a torch!" I yelled to Katie. Zack and I stared at each other and then stared down into the darkness at the bottom of our hole. We had definitely found something. Katie returned with a homemade torch and handed it to me. I grabbed it and shoved it toward the bottom. My eyes became wide, and my mouth dropped open. There in the bottom lay beautiful, bright nuggets of shiny gold. They were stored in rotting burlap sacks that were shredded from years in the ground. Katie started jumping up and down and yelling with excitement. Most of the gold was large pieces, probably at least a pound. We kept moving the nuggets aside to see if anything was beneath. We stopped digging and could only stare in disbelief at what we were seeing. There was a large four foot by four foot chest in the ground underneath us. We pulled the top cover off easily because the wood was obviously old and rotten. All three of us stood in silence and stared. Lying in front of us was a chest full of gold bars stored tightly against each other.

"We're rich!" Zack yelled. "We're all going to be rich!"

"French Pete," Katie kept muttering. "The legend of the Mary Murphy Mine and French Pete was true after all."

"Here, help me get this stuff out of here," Zack ordered. Soon we had an assembly line going, passing gold bars to each other and stacking them on the ground above. They were small bars, but their weight was extremely heavy. Katie could hardly lift them, and we told her to count them as we stacked our treasure. It seemed like hours, but soon our hard labor had ended. Zack and I climbed out of the hole and rushed to sit next to our bounty.

"How many?" I asked Katie.

"Just a second, I'm almost finished," she responded. "I had to count them twice." In the meantime, Zack decided to gather the nuggets and bring them over to our stack of bars. "52 gold bars," she proudly announced. "That has to be millions of dollars in gold." We heard what she said, but our minds wouldn't allow us to believe it. The three of us sat, taking in the beautiful sight of all those bars stacked in a large pyramid.

Now, what do we do next? We still had the problem of Slim and his gang, and we knew they wanted us dead. Turning my head toward the hole, I noticed the beam of light no longer was coming through into our cave, and we were once again in total darkness, other than our fire. We jumped up and rushed to throw wood onto what was left and got it roaring, once again. "Pow! Pow! Pow!" Gunshots rang out throughout the cave and shattered the silence we had been enjoying. We could hear the bullets ricocheting off the walls, and we headed for cover. But, there was nowhere to go. "Hurry! Into the water," I yelled to Zack and Katie.

"We can't stay in there forever," Katie shouted back.

"Just follow me, both of you," I ordered. Running into the water, we dove deep, as we could hear the bullets penetrating the water around us. We swam as fast as we could, and I remembered that there was an area behind the waterfalls. I knew we couldn't come up until we reached safety, and I hoped that Katie could swim well. I knew Zack could. He was our city champion. I began to feel the pressure of the falling water above us as it pushed us deeper. I swam harder and knew we had to surface. I had no more air, and I knew they were probably feeling the same effects. I shot upward out of the water and found myself safely behind the falling water and out of view of our enemies. In seconds both Katie and Zack surfaced beside me, gasping for air and not saying a word. For now, we were safe.

We used every ounce of strength we had left after our fighting the torrential waters, pulled ourselves up on the bank and fell onto our stomachs, completely exhausted. We remained absolutely still, not saying a word to each other. That was too close for comfort. My pulse had quickened, and my heart felt as though it was going to burst through my chest. I rolled over in Katie's direction and saw her quietly sobbing with her face buried in her arms. I could hear the faint voices of our attackers through the falling water as they made their way down the winding steps from above. Slowly I got to my knees and carefully crawled in the direction of an opening I could see along the edge of the rocks lining the shore underneath the roaring water. Using every bit of caution and nerve I could muster, I raised my head above the rocks just enough to see who had shot at us. To no great surprise, I saw Slim and Jeb and the rest of their gang coming down the steps from above. They must have come across our tracks in the snow and followed them to the hole I had fallen through.

By now, Zack and Katie had, crawled over and were looking in the same direction. "Now, what do we do?" Katie whispered. "There's no way out of here. They're going to kill us for sure." I could feel the fear in her voice and tried to assure her that we would figure a way out of our watery prison. Warily, we pulled back from our position and proceeded further into the interior of the cavernous room we were now surrounded by. It was almost pitch black other than some reflecting light from the torches our enemies had lit. The light seemed to bounce off the walls and periodically penetrated the waterfall in front of us.

"Hey! Slim. Come here!" We could here some yelling and quickly moved back to our spy positions. We silently peered through mist and watched their movement as they explored the camp we had just fled.

"Holy cow! Is that what I think it is? A stack of gold bars just waiting for us. And look at all these gold nuggets." We could see Slim rushing down the stairs as he pushed his way past the other gang members.

"Get outta my way you bunch of bums. Move it!" he growled. "Don't no one touch that gold. Do ya understand me? The first one that does will get a bullet from me." We could see the rest of the gang back up and give Slim plenty of room. Jeb slowly walked in Slim's direction, silently turned, looked at the gold and violently whirled around hitting Slim on his jaw. Slim flew backward and fell to the ground, holding his jaw as he looked up at Jeb. "Just remember who's boss here!" he snapped. "You may be my brother, but you do as I say" he shouted. We could see Slim through the flickering fire as he stayed sitting on the ground, not saying a word.

"Did you hear that?" Katie whispered. "They're brothers. I can't believe it. I know Daddy doesn't know that for sure."

"We've got to get out of here," Zack said, tugging on my pants' leg. "These guys mean business. They would have killed us, and they still will if they find us." I silently motioned to Zack and Katie to follow me deeper into the interior behind us. We couldn't take a chance on being heard because the only way out was up those stairs, and they were out of the question, now. Just as we turned and headed into the darkness, a small flash of light seemed to appear ahead of us. "Did you see that?" Zack asked, stopping abruptly in his tracks. There was no mistaking that he wasn't seeing things. Katie and I both agreed that we had also seen it. We stood quietly in the cold darkness waiting to see if the light would reappear. We didn't have to wait long. We decided to move to the rocks to the side of us and seek cover until we knew what was ahead. Our mystery light was slowly and eerily moving in our direction. Katie squeezed my arm and leaned against me breathing heavily into my neck. I could feel her heart pounding wildly.

Just beyond us in the darkness came a vision that made us all shudder. Standing not twenty feet in front of us, holding a torch was our Indian with the yellow moccasins. He stopped, stood silently, and then motioned to us to follow him. The light from the torch shone off his face, illuminating his features and giving him a ghostly appearance. He had a dark patch over one eye, a large protruding hooked nose and a long ponytail of white hair hanging down to the middle of his back with a single feather lying to one side. "What is that?" Zack asked, not believing what he was looking at. "I'm getting out of here. I've had enough. Counterfeiters, murders and now an Indian that's a ghost, and we're following him. You're all nuts."

"Get a hold of yourself," I whispered to Zack, shaking him at the same time. "He's saved our lives a few times already. "We have to trust him."

"You have to trust him," he shot back. "I don't!"

"We'll argue later," I said trying to pacify him, "but right now we have to follow him. He's our only hope." Before we could end our argument, Katie had abruptly left our sides and headed down the dark, narrow tunnel toward the Indian. We immediately headed off trailing behind her as she trustingly followed the yellow moccasins. Shortly we came to a small, narrow area and could see the light disappearing ahead of us as we bent down to crawl on our knees to follow. It was obvious to us that there were curves in the tunnel and that we were ascending in some areas as we continued along the narrow, cobweb-filled passageway. Still following in the direction of the light, we passed through what seemed like a small creek area that must have been runoff from the mountain stream that fed the lake below. The stench of the sulfur water had disappeared, and we soon began to feel a cool breeze blowing across our faces. We seemed to crawl forever when suddenly we were stopped in our tracks by the vision of the Indian, once again. He was standing very erect in the tunnel ahead of us holding one hand up high in a sign of peace. We sat back, stared and as we did, he vanished into thin air.

I quickly crawled up ahead of Katie and moved to where our Indian had been standing. There was nothing! No foot prints, no Indian, just the torch stuck in the crevice of a rock. Obviously, he had put it there. We finished our trek crawling on all fours and were finally able to stand up and stretch. "Where are we?" Katie asked. I looked around, somewhat confused myself, and searched for any signs of familiarity.

"This is it!" Zack shouted. "I remember that carving on the wall. I know where we are."

"Where?" I asked him. I was just as excited as Zack was, but I told him to keep it down, or we would be getting the attention of Jeb's men, again. Zack started quickly moving through the tunnel ahead of us, and we took off, trying to keep up with him. After minutes of maneuvering our way through the musty darkness, there we were. We all stood staring at our final destination. Sticking out of the hole I had fallen into was the tree trunk Zack and Katie had dropped in to make their way down to rescue me. We had come in a full circle. The cave and lake below had two separate entrances.

"Well, I'll be," Zack said somewhat astounded and shouting with surprise.

"Sh! Keep your voice down," I admonished him once again. "They could be near by." Zack nodded in agreement and became quiet.

"Let's get out of here and head back to the ranch," Katie said excitedly. "We've got them exactly where we want them. They have to have left their horses up there. Let's take them and ride back to the ranch." Katie was exactly right, I thought. The whole gang we were going to set a trap for had trapped themselves. If we escaped through the hole above and removed the tree trunk and filled the hole over, they were stuck with no way out.

"Let's go!" I whispered. "We may not have that much time left before they can figure a way out." Katie was the first one up the tree trunk we used for our ladder, and Zack was soon to follow. "Hurry up, Zack," I urged. "They could come at any minute." Soon I had made my way up and out of our prison and was standing in the blustery, cold winter day. The brightness was enough to almost blind us after our stay in the dark, cavernous dungeon below. We stood there momentarily getting our eyes adjusted to the bright sky and the reflection off the snow. What a beautiful sight it was. Freedom, at last! "Come on!" I ordered Zack and Katie. "Give me a hand." I grabbed hold of the log we had climbed to escape and told them to do the same. The three of us held tight. "One, two, three, pull! One, two, three, pull!" The log began to move upward as we moved in unison. Finally, after a few minutes of yanking and grunting we had pulled it from the hole and on to the snowy ground above. "Let's find some branches to cover the hole with. Make it heavy if you can. We'll entomb them like the rats they are," I yelled.

We all separated and went in different directions but soon returned with the fallen branches we had found. We quietly started stacking our wood across the only way out, and it soon disappeared from sight. You would never realize there was a hole there unless you were aware of its location...and we were. There were six horses tied off to trees that surrounded us, and we each headed for one. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" I yelled to Katie, sensing her anxiety. "We'll take all the horses with us. That way, if they possibly escaped, they'd be stuck and would have to do it by foot. And in this weather that would be their death sentence."

"Follow me!" Katie shouted. "I'll get us home in a hurry." We could easily make out the outline of Mt. Columbia in the background, and I realized that was the same mountain I saw out my window every morning. Katie, Zack and I headed off through the deepening snow at a good gallop, and we ascended a long grade to the top of the valley we had just left. We stopped momentarily and stared at the wide prairie out before us and could see smoke rising in the distance. "There it is!" Katie screamed. "There's the ranch!" Zack and I rode to her side and stared off into the distance in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough we could see the smoke rising from the ranch house stretched out far ahead of us. "They're probably scared to death and didn't sleep a wink," she said sadly. "Come on, let's get going. I can't wait to see them and tell them we're all right." We set off at a wild pace pushing our horses as fast as they could run through the snow and as fast as the horses we were trailing with us would allow.

Finally, we had reached the ranch and could see the cowhands busily going about their business.

"Miss Katie! Miss Katie! Where ya been,Miss Katie? Your Ma and Pa have been worried to death. We're just getting the boys ready to form a posse to go lookin for ya."

"We're OK, Jack," Katie confidently answered. "But you just keep getting that posse ready because I've got something else you boys can go after. But first, let me get inside to see my mom and dad." Katie jumped off her horse and flew up the long path to the ranch house. Zack and I handed the horses over to Jack and headed after her. When we reached the porch of the house, we could see the door wide open and Katie in the clutches of her mother and father. Katie and Mrs. Mac were holding each other tightly sobbing with their heads buried deep in each other's arms. Mr. Mac turned and stared at us intensely. It was a look that we had never seen before from him.

"Do you boys want to explain where you've been and what you did to my daughter?" he growled. "As far as I'm concerned, you boys will be leaving here today. Do you understand me?" he barked, pointing his finger directly in our faces.

"Oh, Daddy, it's not their fault. Please don't yell at them! They saved our lives. It's Jeb and Slim. They tried to kill us."

"Tried to kill you?" he asked with a look of disbelief coming over his face. "What do you mean they tried to kill you?" he repeated.

"Oh! Daddy, they're a counterfeiting ring, and we found their hideout where they make the money, and they caught us and tied us up, and the Indian with the yellow moccasins helped us get away, and then Ian fell into a hole, and we found a cave and...."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, just slow down, Katie," he said holding her firmly by her shoulders; "Just slow down."

"Daddy, Jeb and Slim are killers, and they would have killed us, but we've got them trapped," she said excitedly.

"You've got who trapped?" came a booming voice from the front door. We turned to see the imposing figure of Sheriff Parks standing at the open door. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude, but I saw the door wide open, and I wanted to make sure everything was OK," he said, taking off his hat and knocking the snow from its brim.

"That's all right, Sheriff," Mr. Mac said acknowledging his presence. "I think you're just the man we want to see."

"Sounds to me like you've got a problem from what I heard. Maybe I can help you out," he volunteered. "Maybe you can, Sheriff. Maybe you can," said Mr. Mac.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

### THE BIG SHOOT OUT

Soon we were all sitting in the front of the fireplace; Zack, Katie and I were excitedly explaining what we had gone through, about the gang of counterfeiters we had found, the gold we had uncovered and how we had trapped the gang in the cave. "Well, I don't know about you, Mac, but I find this whole story just a little hard to believe. Don't you?" the sheriff laughingly questioned.

"Sounds pretty far fetched to me, also, but I've never had any reason not to believe Katie before," Mr. Mac answered.

"I'll do what you want me to, Mac. After all, that's what you elected me for, whether you liked it or not. And you didn't like it much as I remember. Isn't that right?" he sarcastically asked Mr. Mac.

"You're right, Sheriff. But you were elected, and I'm asking you now to head up a posse to get to the bottom of this whole thing. Can I depend on you or not?"

"I'm ready when you are," he shot back. "Let's get a couple of your boys, and I'll deputize them, and we'll ride."

"Katie, you stay here with your mother; Ian, you and Zack can ride with us to show us the cave and where these boys are," he directed. "I'll have Jack saddle up a horse for you, Sheriff, and then I'll get the boys ready."

"Daddy, I want to go, too," Katie begged. "I won't get in the way. I promise."

"No. You stay here. It could be way too dangerous."

"But Daddy, please?" she continued.

"Katie, I said no. Now, that's final," he said firmly. Feeling distraught and dejected, Katie ran upstairs to her room and slammed her door. Though our bodies were still aching and not recovered from our ordeal of the last couple of days, Zack and I changed clothes and were ready to ride within a few minutes. I rushed downstairs where the sheriff and Mr. Mac were waiting.

"Where's Charles?" I asked. "I haven't seen him."

"Oh, he went into town to pick up supplies for my wife. He'll be back in a couple of hours," Mr. Mac answered.

"Don't you think we should wait for his help?" I questioned. "He really knows what he's doing."

"Time's valuable now, Ian. It'll be dark soon, and we don't need to be out in that if we have trouble. OK. Is everybody ready?" he said as he checked to make sure he had shells in his rifle. "If so, then let's get moving." We left the warm interior of the house and headed to the barn and corral below. I turned to look back at Katie's window and could see her resting her head against the cold glass. She looked at me and raised her hand to wave goodbye. I gave a little wave back and then followed the rest of the boys to mount up. Finally, we were on our way, once again. Zack rode up beside me, shook my hand and wished me good luck. I couldn't remember him ever doing that before, and it gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was this a bad omen? I hoped not.

Leading the way was Mr. Mac, and riding beside him was the sheriff. Altogether there were seven members in our posse, and that included us. I hoped that they knew what they were doing. That didn't seem like many to me. Just as we were about to ascend the hill above the valley, Mr. Mac motioned for Zack and me to come forward. We rode along side him, and he reigned in his horse. "OK, boys. It's your show from this point on. We'll follow you since you know where to go. Just be careful," he warned. "From what you said they'll shoot us now and ask questions later." Zack and I pulled up ahead and rode in the direction where we knew we had imprisoned the gang.

"Did you ever think in your wildest dreams we would be leading a posse?" I jokingly asked Zack. "Nobody will ever believe this."

"All this because you're so smart," he laughed. "Now, I wish I had a dumb friend...you and your Merit Award." We both laughed out loud and headed our horses in the direction of what could be trouble. Suddenly, our eyes focused on the small opening in the pines ahead. We both began to get a sickening feeling in our guts. We had arrived. Here was the place we were once prisoners. I held my hand up for everyone to stop. Whirling my horse around, slowly, I rode back to Mr. Mac and the sheriff and told them we were at the site. The sheriff quietly motioned to his men to dismount, and we all proceeded the rest of the short distance on foot. My heart was in my stomach, again, as I saw the posse drawing their guns and checking their ammunition. Shortly, we arrived at the hole we had covered before we had left. It hadn't been disturbed. That was good news.

"You boys OK?" Mr. Mac asked in a hushed tone. "You look kind of pale."

"Yes, sir," we assured him. "I guess we're sort of scared."

"That's okay," he smiled. "So am I." We tied off our horses and gathered at a large boulder nearby, waiting for further instructions. I quietly explained the layout of the cave and tunnels below, and Mr. Mac and the sheriff mapped out their plans to the men on how they would proceed. "Good luck, boys. Keep it quiet. They'll shoot if they have to," Mr. Mac ordered.

"Let's get her done," the sheriff suggested. "Times a wastin'." Zack and I slowly and quietly inched our way toward the opening and carefully began to uncover the entrance. Soon it was completely open, and we peered into the darkness below. Whew! We were relieved. We could see nobody. It was all clear. Mr. Mac had tied a rope to his saddle and carefully backed his horse over close to the hole. Telling Jack his plans, he grabbed hold of the rope and had Jack back his horse up slowly to let him drop into the hole and down below. I looked over the side, and he was standing upright at the bottom waiting for everyone to follow. The sheriff followed closely behind, and the posse, one after the other followed behind them. Soon it was our turn, and Zack and I were lowered in by Jack, as well. He would stay above in case there were any problems and to watch the horses. Once we were all at the bottom, I pointed out the tunnel we had gone down and described what to expect. Everyone had brought flashlights, so there would be no problem seeing where to go. Mr. Mac headed into the tunnel first with his gun drawn, and he asked me to follow since I was familiar with what lay ahead. The sheriff and Zack were last, and Mr. Mac's men were in the middle. We only used the one tunnel since that was the largest, and the only one that would put us in a position to surprise and capture Jeb and the gang. The going was extremely slow as we silently crept through the dark, musty interior. Not a sound could be heard as we proceeded deeper into the cave. Soon I could hear the faint sound of the waterfalls and tapped Mr. Mac on his back to let him know we were getting close.

"That's the falls we told you about. We're getting very close," I whispered.

"OK. Pass the word back to not make a sound and turn off all flashlights," he acknowledged. I did as he had ordered, and the tunnel went completely dark. We sat there in the darkness for a few seconds until our eyes became adjusted to our surroundings. Soon we moved off again toward the opening ahead. It was obvious that we were coming to the end. The roar of the water was getting louder and the smell of sulfur stronger. Mr. Mac put his arm back against my chest in a gesture for me to stop. I followed in turn and did the same to the rest of the men. We sat in total silence. It was obvious Mr. Mac was planning out his next step, how to surprise the gang without anyone getting hurt. He whispered to me to move aside and let the posse move up in place behind him. I moved back as they came up along side me and then I took my place in the rear with Zack. We sat huddled together not saying a word.

"Pow! Pow! Pow!"

"Don't reach for it, Jeb, or you're a dead man. Get your hands up on top of your heads and lean against the wall. Go on. You heard me. Now!"

"Pow! Pow!

"I told you to get against the wall, Slim. Do it, now! The rest of you men throw your guns down and join the two of them. Let's go! Do it! Now!"

We could feel the rest of the posse easing out of the tunnel ahead of us, and we followed close behind. As we reached the opening, we stood up and saw the posse led by Mr. Mac heading down the stairs toward the men with their hands held high. The fire was still roaring, and it was obvious that they had been asleep and had been surprised. There couldn't have been a better ending. No body hurt and the whole gang captured.

"Well, I'll be. If it isn't old man Mc Vicar," Slim yelled out. "How ya doin' boss? How do ya like all that pretty gold we found? Ain't it a pretty mess?"

"Feeling kind of good for someone that's going to jail, aren't you? I should shoot you right here on the spot for what you did to my daughter, but I'll let the Sheriff take care of that. Maybe you'll be singing a different tune later," Mr. Mac said jeeringly. Mr. Mac walked toward Slim and pushed him hard in the side with the barrel of his pistol.

"That feel good to ya, old man?" Slim said throwing his head back in laughter. "I'd be careful if I was you."

"And you, Jeb. Of all the people, you would be the last one I'd believe would be running a gang of thieves like these no good bums. After everything I've done for you and your son. How could you? Didn't you think about your son, at all? What's wrong with you? Answer me!" Jeb just stood there silently with no expression on his face, just a complete blank stare.

"Well, if it isn't the sheriff, too. How ya doin' there, lawman? It's awful good to see you. It's been a long time. What's wrong, Sheriff? The cat got your tongue?"

"You know, Slim, I never did like you. You've got a great, big

mouth, and, someday, someone's going to close it for good," he shot back, glaring at Slim. "But right now," he said busting out in laughter. "Why don't you come over here where I can untie you?"

Mr. Mac turned and looked at the sheriff. His mouth dropped in surprise. "Drop your guns! All of you! Now! I said now! That means you, Mac. Drop them," the sheriff ordered. Mr. Mac and the entire posse dropped their weapons and were herded into a corner at the wall while the sheriff untied Jeb and the rest of the gang. Zack and I stood silently watching what had just taken place and were in shock. Now, we were in trouble.

"Just do as they say," Mr. Mac whispered, "and everything will be fine."

"Well, I guess the jokes on you, Mac," the sheriff suggested. "Now we're even for all the money you took from my pocket. You, your cattle and all your high falootin' morals. Who do ya think you are? I knew I'd get even with you someday, and today's the day. Now, you're all gonna die, and we'll be the richest men in this area. Just look at all that gold! We don't need to counterfeit no more boys, 'cause we're rich. We're rich. Do ya hear me? Rich!"

Slim walked toward Zack and me with a look of hate in his eyes. "You two are dead. Do ya hear me, dead?" Slim grabbed me by my collar and forced me to walk and stand against the cold, damp wall. He took out his pistol and forced it into my mouth. "Pray boy! You better pray! 'Cause you're dead!" He backed off and slowly raised his pistol, pointing it at my head. "I told you brats to stay away, and you didn't listen. So, goodbye city boy. Oh! Don't worry; your boyfriend's next and then that girlfriend of yours. You'll have plenty of company."

"Hey! Up here!"

"Pow! Pow!" Two gunshots came from above, and Slim fell to the ground wounded. He had been shot twice, once in each arm. "Drop your gun, Sheriff and have the rest of your boys do the same." Surprised, the sheriff had no choice but to drop his pistol and ordered the rest of the gang to follow.

"Charles! It's Charles! I told you he'd know what to do. Where've you been, Charles?"

"I'll tell you later, Ian. It's a long story." Mr. Mac and the rest of the posse picked up their guns and ordered Jeb, Slim and the rest of the gang onto the ground and had them lie on their stomachs with their arms outstretched. After frisking them all, Charles and Mr. Mac stood them up and tied their hands behind their backs.

"Look at all this gold," Mr. Mac said, astonished by what was laid out before him. "I have to be honest with you boys. I wasn't sure if your imaginations were getting the best of you, or you were telling the truth. But, from what I see, I guess we never should have questioned you. I'm proud of you. You're quite the detectives." I looked over at Charles, and he just smiled with those big white teeth. We knew he would believe us. He was the best, and as in the past, he was always there when we needed him. "Come on, Charles. Let's get these boys out of here and locked up. I'll leave Jack and a couple of boys here to guard the entrance, and then we'll return and remove all this treasure these boys found," Mr. Mac ordered.

"Sir," Zack shot back, "It wasn't just us. Katie is the one that really figured out the code. Without her, we may never have found anything."

"Is that right?" Mr. Mac asked. "You'll have to tell us later what you mean by that. We'd love to know. But, right now let's get these boys out of here and in jail."

Charles led the way and headed back up the stairs and into the tunnel. He would lead the way and be there below the entrance waiting for everyone to arrive and keep them under control. Mr. Mac ordered Jeb and Slim to head out following Charles and then staggered the remaining posse and gang members as they exited through the way we had arrived. Zack and I took up the rear. As everyone disappeared from sight, we took one last look at the treasure shining brightly as it was illuminated by the fire, gave each other a big high five, and let out a loud, "Yahoo!" Just another typical day in the adventures of Ian and Zack, I thought.

After everyone had exited the pit and was standing in the deepening snow, Mr. Mac ordered each posse member to his horse. He then forced a gang member onto a horse with them, tying their hands to the pommel of the saddle. "Jack, you stay here with Tom and Steve. I'll be back later with a wagon and some men to remove everything from below." We headed off into the biting, cold wind toward the ranch. I couldn't wait to sit by a warm fire and tell Charles everything that he had missed. But, most of all, I couldn't wait to see Katie and let her know about the sheriff and the rest of the gang. It seemed like it was forever, but soon we could see the outline of the ranch in the setting sun through the dark clouds ahead of us.

After a few long minutes, we arrived at the barn and were greeted by the ranch hands and Katie standing at the entrance. "Charles, you and I will take a couple of the hands and take these boys into town to be locked up," Mr. Mac directed. "The sheriff should be real comfortable. It'll feel like home to him," he smiled. They loaded the entire gang into a cattle truck and headed down the long driveway into Buena Vista. To see them sitting in the back of the open truck, with the cold, wet snow clinging to them as they disappeared, was a great feeling and a beautiful sight.

"Come on, boys," Katie said as she grabbed Zack and me by our arms. "Let's get into the house. I want to hear everything that happened from the beginning to the end," she said excitedly. We didn't have to be coaxed very hard and quickly followed her as she ran up the path to the house and pushed the huge pine door open. Mrs. Mac was standing there with a broad smile on her face and greeted us both with a big hug and a kiss on the forehead. Feeling the tenderness she was showing us, we looked up at her and saw the tears in her eyes. She didn't know it, but that expression of her happiness and concern meant everything to Zack and me. Since we didn't have parents and had lived in the orphanage for as long as we could remember, this was as close as we would come to feeling a mother's love. We didn't know what to say. "Come on you guys, sit down and tell us what happened," Katie ordered, hardly able to control her curiosity.

"Now, Katie, there's plenty of time for that," Mrs. Mac insisted, "but first they're going to get a good, hot meal and some rest. When your dad and Charles get back, they'll be plenty of time for that kind of talk."

"Oh, Momma, I guess you're right," she admitted.

Large platters of steaming hot food were laid out in front of us, and we didn't have to be asked twice to dig in. One thing was for sure; we had never eaten like this before. We sat there for the longest time, savoring every bite. What an adventure this was turning out to be!

"Beep...Beep" We ran to the window and saw Mr. Mac and Charles returning from town. After they had parked the truck, they were soon knocking the snow from their boots, brushing their coats off, and hanging them over the elk antlers on the foyer wall.

"Let's all go sit down in the library and have a good long talk," Mr. Mac suggested. "Mom, will you bring some real hot coffee for Charles and me and some hot chocolate for Katie and the boys?"

"Certainly, Dear, I'll be right back," she said smiling as she returned to the kitchen.

"Well, you three, where do you want to start?" Mr. Mac asked. "I'm sure you must have an awful lot to explain."

"Yes, sir, we sure do," I volunteered. "You're not going to believe what we're going to tell you," I said excitedly.

"Well, why don't you give it a chance," he smiled. "I think Charles and I might have something to tell you, later," he cryptically answered. Zack, Katie and I all looked at each other trying to imagine what secret they may have. We started from the very beginning, relating our experiences and adventures with Slim, the gang, the counterfeiting, how we had been captured and how close we had come to being killed.

But, we saved the last important piece of the puzzle for last...our Indian with the yellow moccasins. "Indian with yellow moccasins?" Mr. Mac roared with laughter. "Do you really believe in that old ghost story? That French Pete legend has been floating around since the gold rush days of St. Elmo. It's just a story that's been added to over the years, nothing else," he smiled, looking over at Charles. We didn't know how to tell him that we had seen the Indian and the yellow moccasins, so we just pretended to accept what he had said. I looked over at Charles, and he was staring at me. He knew I wouldn't lie, and I felt he wanted to know more.

But, the subject was soon changed when Mr. Mac had heard everything we had to tell him of our adventures. "I'm happy that no one was hurt," he said, "but the next time, I suggest that you let someone know if you have any suspicions of anything and ask for help. You could have been killed, and I'm disappointed you didn't get us involved." The room became very quiet, and we looked at each other not knowing how to respond to his admonishment. He was probably correct, I thought, and then maybe he would have seen the Indian like we had. But, now it was too late. Our adventure and the mystery were over, we thought.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

### THE GHOST OF ST. ELMO

"Now, Charles and I have something to tell you," Mr. Mac volunteered mysteriously. We all huddled around the hot fire and got comfortable as Mr. Mac began his story. "About a year ago," he started, "we discovered that some counterfeit ten and twenty dollar bills started showing up in town. For this part of the country and such a small town, that was pretty unusual that they would be passed here. They started showing up at the feed store, the banks, grocery stores and a couple of the taverns in town. Soon suspicions turned to some of the ranch hands in the area, and about three months ago it was discovered that some of our boys had been passing them, as well. When Charles and you arrived, Ian, and I discovered that Charles was an ex FBI agent, I enlisted his help. He developed a theory that there was a pattern as to when the money started appearing on a fairly regular basis. Every Friday was the most apparent time, and we tied Fridays in with our boys since I knew that was when I paid them. Charles investigated and determined that it was definitely our ranch hands who were giving the phony money out when they were in town. He contacted the bank and discovered, after further investigation, that they were depositing the counterfeit bills into their bank accounts. But, that wasn't all he discovered. Jeb and Slim were the only ones who were depositing real money and not the fake. But, how? Well, it turns out that when I handed the checks out to Jeb to distribute to the hands, it was always his policy that he would go into town that afternoon, and the boys would ask him to cash their paychecks. Well, he did cash them, but he also made a visit to the sheriff's department. Charles followed him, saw the sheriff and him exchanging money at the jail and then tied everything together. Charles, why don't you fill in the rest of the story?" he suggested.

"Thanks, Mac. You've done a great job, but I'll finish, if you want me to," he reluctantly offered. I knew Charles was an extremely competent man, but I also knew from past experience that he was very humble and didn't crave the spotlight or credit for anything he felt was his duty. "Well, when the sheriff and Jeb met," he started, "I did see them exchanging money, and then it hit me, as to why. Jeb had just returned from the bank after cashing the ranch hands' checks with legitimate currency, and then the sheriff would exchange the good money for the counterfeit. Jeb would then leave the sheriff, return to the ranch and distribute the money to the men in individual envelopes. They had no idea that they were using the phony money every time they went into town. The sheriff would then take the real money he had received from Jeb and then go to the bank, deposit it as money from cattle sales and, in turn, make himself a very wealthy man. The sheriff also used the counterfeit money when he would go to cattle auctions all over Colorado. The buyers had no idea they were getting duped by receiving counterfeit money, and then the sheriff would re-sell the same cattle he had just bought, for a slight profit. He would receive a legitimate check for their sale and then immediately cash the checks and pocket the good currency. We knew we had solved the counterfeit money mystery, but we had no idea where it was made, or who all was involved. If it weren't for you three, we would still be looking. You're quite the detectives," he smiled.

"But, what about Brad?" Katie blurted out. "What's he going to do with his dad locked up in jail?"

"Well, Katie, I guess you'll have a little brother for a while," Mr. Mac answered. "But I don't think that will be for long. You see, we found out that Slim, who we didn't know was Jeb's brother, was blackmailing him and threatened that they would kill Brad if he didn't cooperate with them. I think the Judge will take that into consideration, especially when Charles and I testify as to the reason he was involved. In the meantime we'll take good care of him. You can count on that."

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" came three loud thumps on the door. "Knock! Knock!" Katie jumped to her feet and ran to the heavy wooden door. She opened it slowly and looked around. No one was there. "Who is it, Katie?" Mr. Mac asked. "Have them come in."

"Daddy, There's no one here," she said incredulously. Mr. Mac moved from his colorful, overstuffed chair and made his way to the entrance. Katie walked out onto the front veranda and returned to the foyer where her father was waiting. She stood there in total silence with her eyes staring in disbelief. Slowly, she raised an object in her hands so that we could see what she was holding. It was a bright, yellow pair of Indian moccasins. Zack and I stood in shock, not able to say a word. A chill went up my spine, and my heart began to race, once again. I looked around the room at everyone's face, and they seemed to have that same blank stare. No. It couldn't be. Could it?

"Well," Mr. Mac roared, "I guess someone's trying to pull one over on you three. Or maybe this is from your Ghost of St. Elmo," he said, winking at Charles and Mrs. Mac. "Oh, by the way Charles, have you ever met their ghost? It seems to follow them around everywhere, saving their lives, and it even finds them gold," he snickered. "Come on. Follow me. I'll show you old French Pete and his yellow moccasins." Mr. Mac led Charles into the room full of arrows and Indian artifacts he had shown me when I had first arrived and sauntered toward the picture of French Pete. Zack, Katie, Mrs. Mac and I followed close behind. We all gathered around and stared up at the large oil painting that hung high above us. Mr. Mac fell backward and gasped as Charles caught him in his arms.

His eyes were wide, and his mouth had fallen open. We pulled our eyes from Mr. Mac and looked up at what he was staring at. There, in the painting stood French Pete. We all gasped as he had at what we were looking at. Katie shot me a quick glance and squeezed my arm. The yellow moccasins were no longer on French Pete's feet but were replaced with old leather boots. The feather in his hair was gone, and he was wearing an old, wrinkled Stetson hat. He had a patch over his one eye, and it looked as though he was winking at us with the other. After we got over our initial shock, we all stood there in silence, once again.

"Well, Daddy, maybe now you will believe us and the yellow moccasins," Katie said as she handed them to her father. "I guess French Pete can rest now since he no longer has to guard his gold." A bewildered look came over the faces of Mr. and Mrs. McVicars' faces. Mr. Mac shook his head hopelessly and stumbled off into the living room with the assistance of Charles. Katie swallowed hard. "Well, I guess you boys have solved the mystery of 'The Ghost of St. Elmo.'"

"I don't know," I answered. "I have a hunch that if you ever need help again, he'll be right here," I laughed. "Right here hanging on the wall, your own personal ghost."

We were all glad the case had been solved and looked proudly at each other as we headed back out into the falling snow. We wanted to give the MacVicars and Charles plenty of time to digest what they had just seen. After all...we had never doubted The Ghost of St. Elmo. But, for now we were ready to enjoy the rest of our Colorado vacation before we got involved in another mystery. I turned to look proudly at my friends and "Whish." I was met by a snowball in my back from Katie. The fun was on, and I headed out into the cold, chasing after both of them. "Watch out Katie!...Boo! Boo! Booooooooo!"

THE END

