The Young Treasure Hunter Part 27

"We're going to s.h.i.+ft a bit," he said gruffly. "Going to where you had your camp. I'll dig up the gold there, and then I'll see what I'll do with you."

If he hoped to provoke a response by this he was disappointed, for neither Mr. Baxter nor the boys answered. Callack did not appear surprised to see that his prisoners were no longer bound. Perhaps he thought the Indians who had brought them the breakfast had loosed the thongs.

Closely guarded on all sides by the dusky Alaskans, Mr. Baxter and the two boys were made to march back to where the ice fort was. The tent was struck, and the old camp abandoned. Johnson, who had somewhat recovered from the cruel blow, staggered along, with an Indian on either side of him.

Callack lost no time in seeking the gold once he had reached the place where the first skirmish had taken place. He ordered his men to erect the tents, and then, taking several of the Indians, including Zank, with him, each one with a pick and shovel, he began to dig around the big hummock of ice.

"He'll hunt a good while before he finds anything there," remarked Fred.

As soon as the tents were up more Indians were set at digging. They demolished the fort, but this hindered rather than helped them, for the floor inside beneath which the treasure was buried was covered deeper than ever with a layer of ice. Callack excavated a little there, but the place seemed frozen so solidly because of the water Mr. Baxter had poured over it that it did not look as if it had been disturbed in a hundred years. So he did not go deep enough.

All day long the Indians, urged on by the white man, dug and searched for the treasure, but without success. As night came on Callack seemed to give it up.

Throwing down his pick, he walked over to where Mr. Baxter and the boys were kept under guard in a tent.

"Come on out here!" he called to them. "I've got something to say to you."

He gave an order to the guards, and they stood aside. Wondering what the new move of the scoundrel might be, Mr. Baxter, followed by his son and Fred, went out. A bitter cold wind was blowing, and it looked as if there was going to be a big snowstorm.

CHAPTER XXIII

CALLACK'S CRUEL THREAT

"Well," remarked Callack as he eyed his captives, "you hid the gold pretty far down, I guess. I haven't been able to find it."

He waited, seemingly for an answer, but Mr. Baxter did not reply, nor did the boys say anything.

"Now," went on the rascally white man, "I'm going to make you tell me where you've buried it, for I know you did bury it."

"Then why don't you find it?" asked Mr. Baxter.

"You were too sharp for me. I don't mind admitting that. You are ahead of me--so far--but I've got several tricks to play yet. But first I want to give you a fair chance."

"Then if you want to do that the best thing you can do is to give us back our sleds, dogs and other possessions and let us go on our way."

"Hu! I'd be very foolish to do that, wouldn't I? As soon as you got there you'd have mounted police after me, or you'd organize a vigilance committee."

"That's what we would," admitted Mr. Baxter. "I'll pay you back for what you have done, if it takes the last dollar I have in the world."

"Well, you'll not use any of the gold," replied Callack with a sneer, "for I'm going to have that myself."

"You'll have to get it first."

"I intend to. That's why I called you out here. I have a proposition to make to you."

"You can save your breath," said Mr. Baxter quickly. "I'll never consent to compromise with you and give you part of the gold."

"And I'm not asking for a compromise. I want it all," cried Callack quickly. "What I mean is this: You can tell me where the gold is buried and help me find it, in which case I'll provide you with safe transportation to the river."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you will be starved to death!"

At this cruel threat even Mr. Baxter, hardened as he was by privation in his early mining days, could not repress a start. For of all the deaths that could be devised, that of starving in the Arctic region is probably the worst. In that terribly cold climate much food is necessary to keep up bodily warmth, and once the temperature of the blood gets too low, the end comes by freezing. So, in reality, Callack was threatening to freeze and starve his captives to death unless they revealed the hiding place of the gold.

But after his first exhibition of emotion Mr. Baxter recovered his composure. He did not believe Callack would dare do as he said he would.

"I thought I'd make you think twice," said the scoundrel, as he noted the slight change that came over Mr. Baxter's face. "Now will you tell me?"

"No!"

The word came as an exclamation.

"Then you'll starve."

"Will we?" asked Mr. Baxter. "You can't scare me, Callack. A man who is cowardly enough to strike an unarmed person isn't brave enough to do as you say you'll do. You'll be afraid to do it, for, though we're a good way from civilization, the law will get you some day. I'm not afraid.

These boys are not afraid. You'll never get the gold if we have to tell you where it is, and you can make the most of that. Now don't ask me again, for if you do I'll not answer you. I don't like to talk to such a scoundrel as you are."

These words of defiance stung Jacob Callack to fury. He raged up and down in front of the captives, and at times it seemed as if he would attack them. But the fearless att.i.tude of Mr. Baxter, and the calm bearing of the boys, who took a lesson from their older companion, was too much for the coward.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "We'll see how you'll talk after you've been twenty-four hours without anything to eat. We'll see how you'll like it to feel the cold making you stiff. You need not think I'll ask you again where the gold is. I'll find it myself, and punish you at the same time.

You might better have thought twice, Simon Baxter, before you defied me.

You don't know me!"

"Yes, I do. I know you for a coward, and a man who would not stop at the worst of crimes to accomplish his ends. But I'm not afraid of you. Help is on the way to us, and before twenty-four hours have pa.s.sed you may be begging me for mercy."

Callack laughed. Evidently he placed no faith in what his prisoner said.

"Very well," he sneered. "From now on, unless you change your mind and decide to tell me where the gold is, you shall have not a morsel to eat."

He turned and walked away, while the captives went back into the tent.

"Do you think he'll really do as he threatened?" inquired Fred.

"I have no doubt but that he'll try it," replied Mr. Baxter.

"But can we stand it?" asked Jerry. "Wouldn't it be better to give him part of the gold and have him let us go?"

"He'd never be content with part of the treasure," was his father's answer. "He wants it all. But what do you say, Fred? You are an equal partner in this enterprise. Do you want to give Callack all the gold?"

Fred thought matters over for a moment. He had endured much to get his share of the treasure, and he was likely to endure more. To return without the gold meant that conditions would be the same at home as they had been. There would be pinching poverty, with his mother toiling over her sewing, and his father trying to get such light tasks as suited his strength. It meant that Mr. Stanley would get well very slowly, if at all.

On the other hand, if he stood out boldly with Mr. Baxter, there was a chance that Holfax and his men might come in time to save them. If he could stand the terrible pangs of hunger and cold for a time, all might yet be well. He made up his mind.