The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure Part 26

"Why, really, I don't know. I never thought to notice. I saw an arrow and I think it was pointing toward that hill over there--but then again it might be pointing away from it. I'm not sure." Joy stopped helplessly, and clutched her aching foot.

"You're helpful at least," Kit shrugged her shoulders. "I do believe she's just teasing us. Joy would never find anything!"

"Then go and see for yourself!" snapped Joy.

"I'll do it," replied Bet suddenly letting go of Joy in her excitement.

Joy collapsed with a groan.

Bet turned to help her but Enid shoved her aside. "Here is where I s.h.i.+ne. You go and find your arrow and I'll play nurse and fix up Joy's ankle. You're lucky, Joy Evans, that it isn't broken."

"It feels as if it were," sobbed Joy.

"I don't see any arrow," called Bet in a disgusted tone. "Don't be mean, Joy. If there isn't one here, say so."

"Go on, Bet, up a little higher!" cried Joy.

Bet crept along the ledge, climbing from one projection of rock to the next.

There was a sudden cry of joy. "Here it is!"

The professor craned his neck to get a glimpse of the arrow. "Which way does it point, child?" he asked eagerly.

"It points toward the hill, that way," replied Bet, studying the markings carefully.

"That's our good luck. If it went the other way, it would be across the claims of Kie Wicks and his friend Ramon. Come on down, child, before you fall."

Bet slid down easily, her nimble body could cling to the sheer cliff, or so it seemed to those who watched her.

"I think we'll call you the goat girl, Bet, you sure can climb rocks,"

exclaimed Kit admiringly. "I never could do it."

"And you an Arizona girl?" laughed Bet.

"An Arizona girl only knows how to ride horses," retorted Kit.

"And if they can all ride the way you can, they need no other accomplishment." Bet ran to join the professor.

The old man was examining the ground in the direction the arrow was pointing.

"Who ever would have thought to look up at that rock for an arrow," Bet said excitedly.

"But you see, Bet, we're starting in the middle. Somewhere there's a map that shows all this, and by that map you would know you had to look at that cliff for the arrow," explained the professor seriously.

"But where to next?" asked Bet.

"Follow the arrow, that's all we know," answered Kit.

There was no more digging on the claim that day. Even lunch was eaten by them in a half-hearted way. Joy was suffering with her ankle or she might have done justice to Tang's picnic spread.

The professor was in a delightful dream. This was the sort of thing that he loved.

"Do eat something, Professor Gillette. You'll be sick if you don't,"

pleaded Bet.

"Why, I'm not hungry in the least. I do wonder why the arrow is pointing that way. There doesn't seem to be a thing in sight."

"Maybe if we climbed the hill, we'd find it," suggested Enid. "Suppose we divide up in teams. Some go over the hill and some hunt on this side."

"Who's going to stay with me? I won't stay alone," cried Joy her voice trembling with fear, "I'm afraid of buzzards. I've read about them.

When they see people sick or crippled, they fly around, waiting for them to die. And sometimes they don't wait, they pick at them while they still live."

"Don't worry, Joy. I'll stay with you!" Enid looked longingly toward the hill, then turned to Joy.

The two girls watched the other members of the group, scramble up the steep ledge to the flat-topped hill.

"It's stupid to have to stay here," said Joy with impatience.

"Couldn't you help me over there to that wall? There's some low bushes that will keep this horrible sun out of my eyes."

"Let's try it anyway. Come on!" Enid lifted Joy to her feet and supported her. "Now lean on me and just hobble along. Don't put any pressure on that ankle. Hop like a rabbit!"

Joy groaned as she limped along. By resting many times the girls reached the clump of Palo Verde trees, and were glad to drop down in their scant shade. Joy's face was white and strained.

"I know what I'd do if I had my way," announced Enid anxiously. "I'd get you home at once."

"But I won't go. I want to wait for the others."

Enid sat down on the ground beside Joy, crouched under the bushes.

They were close to the wall of the cliff.

"What a funny rock!" said Enid. "I wonder what causes these strange formations. Doesn't that look like an altar? And there is a figure of a man in a long robe. And the professor will tell us that it is all made by the rain."

"Yes," said Joy indifferently. "You know, Enid, I'm tired of this Arizona country. I hate these bare mountains, and I hate the herds of cattle that stare at you and then race madly away. Everything is unfriendly. Yet, I'm almost sure I'll be homesick, like Kit, when I once get away."

"It's glorious!" answered Enid.

"It frightens me. Everything seems cruel. I'd give a dollar this minute to see a soft, green meadow."

"I'm perfectly happy right here, I wouldn't have it different." Enid was gazing over the ranges of mountains that seemed to go on and on.

It was half an hour later when the girls heard Bet's familiar call.

"She's found the treasure!" whispered Enid. "You can hear the happiness in her voice."

But the girls were mistaken. The group had searched high and low but nothing was in sight. The professor had found a bit of old ruin, part of a wall that he claimed was Indian fortification. But that was all.

No mounds or signs of a village.

"Why Joy and I found something just as interesting as that," laughed Enid. "Under the trees here, the wall of that small cliff has the most peculiar weather markings. Take a look at it, Professor Gillette.

It's interesting."