Norton, Andre - Novel 32 (20 page)

He
must have startled
Parky
, for the younger
boy did not fight against his grip, only stared
at his brother in astonishment. Christie closed her
eyes and then opened them again. She did
not know which was worse—to feel the car slip
ping around or to see the outside swing back
and
forth beyond its windows. There was a last
bump
and they crawled on without so much
skidding.
Now they were in a valley between
two
hills. Water still washed down the sides of
those and was thrown back up by the wheels
of the car.

As they were heading up a rise a little later,
Christie heard Lucas say, "That sees us through
the worst bit."

"I certainly hope so!" was Father's answer.

It was getting lighter. Finally the sun broke
through the clouds. Christie
sighed in relief. It
made
her feel better—and this road was not any
bumpier than the one they had taken into Dar-
ringer.

"This is the old trail to Broken Tooth and
Last Candle," Lucas said.
"We turn off at a
big rock that looks like a broken tooth. From
then on we strike across country, taking our
bearings on Tall Spur in the west."

"I'll leave the guiding to you," Father told
him. "This must be a long
way around, though."

"It is. We can stop at the trader's at Two
Rock if we have to. If the
phone's out—it gen
erally
is after a storm such as this one—one of
the boys there can take the upper trail and let
them know at the station where we
are and
what
happened. That's the best we can do."

"If it's the best, then that will have to be
it,"
Father
agreed.

Broken Tooth was indeed a queer-looking
rock. Neal echoed Christie's
thought when he
said
he thought it did not look much like a tooth.

"Not a human tooth," Lucas agreed, "but
it does resemble the fang of a
cougar with the
tip
broke off.
Now, left here,
Harvey
."

Father obediently swung the station wagon
out of the traces of the old trail
onto the open
land.
However, they had gone only a little dis
tance when Lucas called, "Pull up!"

Luckily Father had been going slowly. The
front wheels were very close to a big cut across
the ground. He and Lucas got out and walked
along the ditch. It did not look deep from the
car but
Toliver
, leaning
against an open window
frame, shook
his head.

"Wash.
Can't drive over that!"

"Why not?"
Neal wanted to know.

"Sand's too soft. The wheels would just sink
in."

The two men returned to the car. "You think
we'd better turn back to the hills
again?"
Father
was saying.

"I'd try that first." Lucas was facing the way
they had come. "If we are to
stay out tonight
the
hills are better than right here."

"Okay."

Again Father backed and turned cautiously. They crawled
along a path that paralleled the wash for a while. Then the hills began to rise
and the car stopped.

"This doesn't seem to be getting us any
where."

"I agree. And it will be dark in another hour.
We're boxed in. I can get overland
to the Trad
ing Post
by morning, if I start soon. Then I can
bring
back help to bridge the wash. We'll have
supper
and I'll take off—"

"You're sure you can find your way in the
dark?"

Lucas
laughed at Father's question. "
Harvey
,
I've ridden this
country and walked it, too,
since I
was younger than
Parky
. You can't lose
me in it. You may have to spend the night in
the car—unless you want to go back to Darrin-
ger
. But by morning I'll be back with help."

"Better stay here than go back to town," Father
decided.

Again
Christie sighed with relief. She did not
want
to return to the ghost town. They had
camped
in the car before—it was far better than
those falling-to-pieces houses back there.

"Good thing we brought plenty of supplies.
Let's see what we have left in the
baskets,"
Father
suggested.

Toliver
, Neal, and
Parky
had already spilled
out
of the car, Baron
right
at their heels. Libby and
Christie passed the baskets over to Father,
and then got out. Christie put Shan down on
the ground and he walked stiff-legged, sniffing
about.

"Get some wood,
Toliver
,"
his father said.
"Neal
can help you. Bring a lot. You should
keep the fire going," he explained to Father.
"Sometimes herders move in
this direction and you might be able to get some help even before
I get back. They'd come if they
sighted a fire."

Toliver
and Neal, Baron bounding ahead,
scrambled toward the rising
ground where there
was
a growth of trees and brush. Lucas took
out a pair of field glasses. With these slung
around his neck he climbed to the roof luggage
carrier and used them to look westward.

Father was examining the contents of the
baskets, dividing the food left
into two lots. "Supper"—he pointed out to one—"and this
we'll put back for
breakfast."

He had just begun to do that when Neal came
running down the slips. He was
not carrying
any
wood—instead he waved his arms excit
edly over his head. Father dropped a packet of
sandwiches and took a quick step
in his direction.

"What is the—"

"Come and see! Come and see!" Neal's last bound
brought him close enough to be able to
pull at Father's arm. He was gasping, so he had
little breath left with which to
explain.

Lucas jumped from the top of the car and
hurried along behind Father and
Neal. Christie
saw
Libby was also following. She stopped
only long enough to fasten Shan's leash to the
door handle (which made him yowl
loudly) and
went
after the rest, catching
Perks's
hand as
she steadied the younger girl.

They all had to slow down when they came
around the side of the hill, for
there was a tum
ble
of stones and earth. It looked rather like
the stopper that had been used to close the
treasure cave. Father caught at
Neal with one
hand
and
Parky
with the other.

"Take it easy! You could have a nasty fall
here."

"Another landslip.
The storm must have
brought this down, too."
Lucas kicked at a
stone.
"What's so exciting?" he asked Neal.

It was
Toliver
, standing on a
big rock farther
on,
who cried out now, urging them to join him.

However, Lucas and Father went slowly,
holding back both
Parky
and Neal, who were
fairly dancing with impatience. Baron flashed
by the rock on which
Toliver
was perched and
began barking very loudly indeed.

"Look there!"

The landslip had opened a narrow door into a valley. But
facing them there was what was
so astounding, though at first Christie was puz
zled at what she saw. What was so
important
about an
old broken wagon? Then she saw it was not really a wagon after all.

"It's a stagecoach!" Neal shouted, his voice
echoing down the valley.
"Stagecoach!
Stage
coach!"

"And it says Bright Line on the door!"
Toli
ver
leaped from his rock perch and
went to thump on the door of the coach.

Lucas joined him, shining his flashlight into
the interior. A moment later he
released his
hold on
the window sill and slid down. Then
he walked to the front of the mass of wood,
leather, and rusted metal.

Father climbed over to join him. Lucas said
something to Father and handed
him the torch.
Then
Father crawled up to look through the
same window.

"It's the ghost coach they tell the story
about, I bet!" Neal
declared. "The Indians
must have chased it here and—"

"Not Indians, I think," Father said as he
came back to them. "Though
in a way it is a

The Sealed Valley

ghost
coach. No, its being here is not, I believe,
the
result of an Indian attack."

"But—but weren't they running, and got
caught?" To Christie that
seemed the only explanation.

"No. This coach must have been purposely
hidden, all right. However, that
was done to
cover up
another crime.
I'm
afraid that the
driver who promised those passengers
a run
through the Indian attack lines was
more a dan
ger to those who bribed him than
any Apaches.
He must have brought the
coach near here—if the passengers did not know the country they
would
not suspect him of a detour when he
explained
it was to escape capture. Then he
robbed
his passengers and—perhaps he had a
confederate—he
or they could take the horses
and
escape."

"But the passengers—" Christie asked.

"They are still in the coach," Father an
swered. "Whoever killed them
must have then
walled
the coach up here. And during all this
time it was hidden until the flood brought the
landslip today.
I'm
afraid this particular crime
will never be solved—it occurred
too far in the
past."

Christie backed away from the coach. This
surely
must
be the ghost
coach that was sup
posed to run along the
old road at night. She
turned,
pulling Perks with her,
and hurried back
toward the car. Father
caught up with her and
dropped a
comforting, warm hand on her shoul
der.

"There's nothing here now to disturb anyone, Chris.
It all happened a very long time
ago."

"I know," she answered. "But they said
that the ghost coach goes along the road at night.
Maybe it will come out of here
tonight—"

"Christie!"
Her father's hold
on her tight
ened, holding her fast.
"There are all kinds of
queer old stories that people
like to tell just to scare themselves and others. This coach won't
be going anywhere—tonight or any
other night. We won't go in there again. Now—let's go back
to camp, get a fire started, and
have supper. We'll sleep in the car, just as we have other
nights—all together and safe.
There is nothing
to
be afraid of—nothing!"

Christie relaxed. With Father
right
here she
knew she
was being silly. Of course he was
right—there was nothing to be afraid of now.

"Maybe—maybe because we found Lady
Maude and the other things, that's
why we
found the
coach, too." She said the first thing
that slipped into her mind. "Maybe they all go
together."

Father's arm hugged her. "Could be you're right.
Stranger things have happened—"

"I'm hungry, good and hungry."
Parky
joined them. "Let's go and get something to
eat. That old coach isn't going anywhere now."
Father laughed. "Right you are,
Parky
."
A moment later
Christie was able to laugh,
too.
She was hungry, too, now that she did not
feel so queer and cold inside.