Read Online Treasure Mountain (1972) by Louis - Sackett's 17 L'amour - Free Book Online
Authors: Louis - Sackett's 17 L'amour
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locate our father's grave. We understand he left here with your brother-in-law, Pierre Bontemps, and we thought you might be able to provide us with the date and destination."
Philip Baston considered that, and then said briefly, "Your father was known to Pierre through an acquaintance who was killed. It was known that your father was familiar with the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, and Pierre asked him to act as a guide and to share in the results, if any.
"They left here twenty years ago, almost to the day. My brother-in-law and I were very close, gentlemen, closer I might add, than I and my brother. He wrote to me from Natchez, and another letter came from the mouth of the Arkansas.
"I believe they went up the Arkansas from there to Webber's Falls, but that is pure guesswork. From there it was overland, but at that point they were together."
"Pierre Bontemps, my father, and--"
Philip Baston hesitated, and then said. "There were four more at the time. My brother Andre, then a very young man, a man named Pettigrew, and another named Swan."
"Hippo Swan?" I asked.
Baston glanced at me. "Do you know the man?"
"He was pointed out to me."
He seemed about to say something further, then turned back to Orrin. "There was one other ... a slave."
"His name?"
Again there was a moment of hesitation. "Priest. Angus Priest."
Orrin got to his feet. "One thing more, sir, and then we shall be on our way.
What were they after?"
Baston looked disgusted. "They were hunting gold buried by a French army detachment that mined it earlier. Supposedly this detachment was sent in there around 1790, and I believe there is some record of it.
"The reports vary, of course, but the consensus is that they dug some five million dollars in gold. The figure increases with each retelling of the story.
I think Pierre and Andre believed the figure was closer to thirty million. In any event, from one cause or another the strength of the detachment was cut until a final Indian attack left only five of them to escape.
"Pierre had a map. Your father told him he could take him to the location. So they started out."
"Thanks very much." Orrin thrust out his hand, and Philip took it. If he knew anything of our difficulties with his brother, he said nothing about it.
In the carriage we set quiet for a time, and then I said, "The gold could be there. There was many a place, them years, where a party of men could mine that much."
"Do you know the country?"
"Uh-huh. No city man's goin' to find anything up there, Orrin. That's almighty rough country, and she's high up. You've got a few months each year when a body can work, and then you have to hightail it out of there or get snowed in.
"Landmarks don't last in that high country, Orrin. There's heavy snow, wind, lightnin', an' rain. There's snowslides, landslides, and the passage of men and animals. Only the rocks last ... for a while."
"What do you think about pa?"
"I think he took 'em to the hills. I think he took 'em high up yonder, and I think there was blood, Orrin. Andre and them, they're runnin' scared. Something happened only Andre knows of and the rest suspect."
"What could they be afraid of now? Us?"
"No, sir. Of Philip yonder. That's a fine, proud old man, and he has money. I think the rest of them hope to inherit, but likely he doesn't approve of them, and if he found some cause to suspect what happened to Pierre, well, they'd have nothing."
"I think they have some notion of going for the gold."
"Likely."
"What do you think we should do?"
"I think we should catch ourselves a steamer, Orrin, and go back upriver hunting folks with long memories. There's always one, a-settin' by somewheres who'll recall. We want a man who can recall."
"Tomorrow?"
"I reckon. First, though, I've got a little something to do. I'm going to have a little quiet talk with a priest."
Chapter VIII
We packed our gear in the morning, and we booked our passage north, and as much as I liked that wonderful,
Philip Baston considered that, and then said briefly, "Your father was known to Pierre through an acquaintance who was killed. It was known that your father was familiar with the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, and Pierre asked him to act as a guide and to share in the results, if any.
"They left here twenty years ago, almost to the day. My brother-in-law and I were very close, gentlemen, closer I might add, than I and my brother. He wrote to me from Natchez, and another letter came from the mouth of the Arkansas.
"I believe they went up the Arkansas from there to Webber's Falls, but that is pure guesswork. From there it was overland, but at that point they were together."
"Pierre Bontemps, my father, and--"
Philip Baston hesitated, and then said. "There were four more at the time. My brother Andre, then a very young man, a man named Pettigrew, and another named Swan."
"Hippo Swan?" I asked.
Baston glanced at me. "Do you know the man?"
"He was pointed out to me."
He seemed about to say something further, then turned back to Orrin. "There was one other ... a slave."
"His name?"
Again there was a moment of hesitation. "Priest. Angus Priest."
Orrin got to his feet. "One thing more, sir, and then we shall be on our way.
What were they after?"
Baston looked disgusted. "They were hunting gold buried by a French army detachment that mined it earlier. Supposedly this detachment was sent in there around 1790, and I believe there is some record of it.
"The reports vary, of course, but the consensus is that they dug some five million dollars in gold. The figure increases with each retelling of the story.
I think Pierre and Andre believed the figure was closer to thirty million. In any event, from one cause or another the strength of the detachment was cut until a final Indian attack left only five of them to escape.
"Pierre had a map. Your father told him he could take him to the location. So they started out."
"Thanks very much." Orrin thrust out his hand, and Philip took it. If he knew anything of our difficulties with his brother, he said nothing about it.
In the carriage we set quiet for a time, and then I said, "The gold could be there. There was many a place, them years, where a party of men could mine that much."
"Do you know the country?"
"Uh-huh. No city man's goin' to find anything up there, Orrin. That's almighty rough country, and she's high up. You've got a few months each year when a body can work, and then you have to hightail it out of there or get snowed in.
"Landmarks don't last in that high country, Orrin. There's heavy snow, wind, lightnin', an' rain. There's snowslides, landslides, and the passage of men and animals. Only the rocks last ... for a while."
"What do you think about pa?"
"I think he took 'em to the hills. I think he took 'em high up yonder, and I think there was blood, Orrin. Andre and them, they're runnin' scared. Something happened only Andre knows of and the rest suspect."
"What could they be afraid of now? Us?"
"No, sir. Of Philip yonder. That's a fine, proud old man, and he has money. I think the rest of them hope to inherit, but likely he doesn't approve of them, and if he found some cause to suspect what happened to Pierre, well, they'd have nothing."
"I think they have some notion of going for the gold."
"Likely."
"What do you think we should do?"
"I think we should catch ourselves a steamer, Orrin, and go back upriver hunting folks with long memories. There's always one, a-settin' by somewheres who'll recall. We want a man who can recall."
"Tomorrow?"
"I reckon. First, though, I've got a little something to do. I'm going to have a little quiet talk with a priest."
Chapter VIII
We packed our gear in the morning, and we booked our passage north, and as much as I liked that wonderful,
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