The Lost Valley, page 3
Noble laughed bitterly.
“I’m not paying these guys,” motioning at Gus and Danny, “to sit on their asses while you rest. We go up, and we do it today. Who knows what the weather might be like tomorrow.”
“I’m not sure I can,” Erik said. “Not if it’s anything like yesterday.”
Jess remembered Gus’ words of the night before, about it being a harder climb, but held her tongue. This was Noble’s show to run, and she could see he was determined to get his way. And as usual, as they did every time in the office, both Mike and Erik finally gave in, although they made a fine show of grimacing and wincing as they laced up their boots.
Noble was raring to go but the big guide put a spanner in his works.
“We all go together as a team today. It’s too risky higher up to split in two groups. Not when we’re in unknown territory.”
“They’ll slow us down too much,” Noble protested.
“Don’t tell me,” Gus replied calmly. “You brought them.”
They broke camp ten minutes later, without Noble saying another word. Jess saw that both Danny and Gus had unslung their rifles and were carrying them, casually but with a watchful eye.
If they’re keeping an eye open, maybe I should too.
Gus had been right; it was a much tougher climb than the previous day. Jess’ calf muscles ached after only half an hour, but at least the big guide wasn’t pushing them too hard, being careful to keep a pace that would allow Mike and Erik to stay in touch with them.
Noble, on the other hand, was clearly champing at the bit, frequently walking ahead then making a big show of waiting for everybody to catch up.
“He’s a bit of a dick, isn’t he?” Danny said, not too quietly, to Jess after they reached another of Noble’s strutting points.
Jess smiled.
“More than a bit,” she said, more quietly. “But he’s the boss.”
Danny laughed at that.
“Not up here he isn’t. And if he tries any of that alpha-male shit with Gus, I know who my money’s on.”
The running repairs that had been done on Mike and Erik’s blisters seemed to have done some good and both men, while clearly not having any fun, were keeping up with the pace as they got ever higher. A narrow trail, hardly more than a foot wide in places, wound up through a slope of scree that shifted alarmingly underfoot in places, but held their weight. At first, the snow was patchy, but after an hour, it was an inch deep—and getting deeper—underfoot. The tops of the range still seemed impossibly high above them, and Jess saw no sign that the path they were on might lead to a pass through the peaks to any valley.
At their first break, while Gus and Danny got coffee going, Noble had Mike check their position on the GPS on his phone and try to evaluate the direction in which they were traveling.
“We’re headed too far north,” Noble said.
“We’re going up,” Gus said with a laugh. “I thought that’s what you wanted?” He pointed south, to a steep, almost sheer, cliff face. “You’re welcome to go that way if you’d like. I prefer to go ‘round shit like that. And so did the deer whose trail we’re following. Be smart. Be a deer.”
“I’m not paying you to mouth off,” Noble replied.
Gus laughed again.
“You’re not paying me enough not to.”
Jess saw color rise in Noble’s cheeks and was surprised when he turned away from the confrontation; had this been in an office environment, Noble would have gone for the throat.
But he needs the guide. And they both know it.
“Do you at least know where you’re going?” Erik said, unable to keep the whine out of his voice.
“Nope,” Gus said with a grin. “Do you?”
Mike pointed at his map. Then up the slope ahead of them.
“If I’m right, it’s about three miles west. If the trail takes a turn slightly south once we get ‘round the outcrop there, we should be heading straight for it.”
Gus grinned again.
“That’s the plan. Listen to your man there, Noble. He’s talking more sense than you.”
Mike and Gus’ instincts both proved to be right. An hour later, they rounded the top end of the outcrop and the track, such as it was, snaked away from them along a long saddle between them and the next peak, which was high, snow free and almost pyramidal in shape.
Mike got excited.
“We’re here,” he said, almost shouting. “It’s in the journal.”
He fetched the old book from inside his jacket, flicked though the pages, and read.
“We eventually crossed the saddle before noon, with the sun almost blinding us, glistening off the ice on the pyramidal peak to the west. The trail disappeared ahead of us but we stuck with our instincts and broached a leftward slope that led us over a smaller peak and suddenly our goal was in sight—the valley lay spread out below us, bathed in rich sunshine.
“What are we waiting for?” Noble said. “Let’s go.”
He headed for the path, making for the saddle, but Gus pulled him back.
“This is fresh snow,” he said. “We go single file, I go first…and we take it slow. If I say it’s too dangerous, then it’s too dangerous. Do you understand?”
Noble looked far from understanding, but again he deferred to the guide and Gus led them out onto the saddle.
It felt like walking along the top edge of a piece of paper, exposed on both sides to a vertiginous drop that fell away for a thousand feet. Somewhere behind her, Erik whined and moaned and Danny cajoled, but Jess’ whole concentration was on Gus’ and then Noble’s footprints in the snow. She planted each of her steps in the center of the marks left by those ahead of her and tried not to look to either side. Luckily, there was only a slight breeze from her right—anything stronger and she wasn’t sure her nerves would take it. She heard Erik whine again, a pitiful moaning that sounded more animal than human, followed by soft encouraging words from both Mike and Danny. She tuned them out again and kept moving forward.
Noble came to an abrupt stop ahead of her, and she wobbled, almost lost her balance, and had a bad moment when she thought she might lose her footing and slide away off the saddle entirely. By staring ahead rather than down and focusing on Noble’s back, she was able to get her bearings and steady herself.
“What is it now?” Noble asked.
It had been Gus who stopped them. Jess saw over Noble’s shoulder that the big man was looking ahead along the saddle. They were almost exactly at the halfway point, and it had dipped slightly from where they started. Now it looked to rise again, upward toward the pyramidal peak to the west. From here on, it would be a climb as well as a balancing act. Added to that, the breeze coming across from their right was definitely getting stronger, starting to whistle and raise flurries of dry snow from the path ahead.
“That’s it,” Gus said. “This is as far as we go.”
“Are you mad, man?” Noble said, almost shouting. “It’s right there, right ahead of us.”
“It’s too risky,” Gus replied.
“Too risky my ass,” Noble said and pushed his way past the big man. Gus tried to block his path, but Noble wasn’t to be stopped and in the act of passing nudged the guide so hard that the big man took a wobble bigger than the one Jess had just had and went over, first onto one knee then onto his back. He started to slide away off the saddle.
“Help him,” Jess called, but Noble was already off and away along the saddle, already climbing toward the pyramidal peak.
Jess got down on her belly, spreading herself flat and reached for Gus. His right arm came up and caught her left. He had a tight grip on his rifle with the other hand.
“Let go of the weapon and give me your other hand,” she said. “I can’t hold you.”
Gus shook his head.
“Can’t, we might need it.”
“For pity’s sake, man, I can’t hold you.”
Then his weight took its toll.
They both started to slide off the saddle.
A sudden counterweight on the back of her thighs stopped the slide.
“I got you,” Danny said, almost in her ear, his weight holding them both in place while Gus climbed up her arm and over her shoulders to safety.
Danny helped her to her feet. “Quick thinking,” he said. “Nicely done.”
“There wasn’t much thinking involved,” she replied.
“I owe you one,” Gus replied then looked along the ridge. Noble was still climbing, having now veered left ‘round the base of the hill. “And I owe him something too. The fucker nearly got me killed.”
“What now, boss?” Danny asked.
“Now we go home,” Gus replied. “And that bastard can find his own way back.”
Jess put a hand on the big man’s arm.
“I’ll take that favor right now if I can,” she said softly. “Don’t leave him. You can chew him out as much as you like. But please don’t leave him up here alone.”
Even then, she wasn’t sure Gus would relent, until Danny lent his weight to her plea.
“She’s right, big man. We’d never get this kind of work again if we just left somebody up here.”
“Shit,” Gus said and spat at his feet. “Somebody’s got to go and get him. And if I do it, I’m likely to lose my temper as soon as I catch him. Are you up for it, Danny?”
The younger guide nodded.
“I’m game,” he said.
“And me,” Jess replied. “You’ll need somebody to talk to him, to get him to turn back. He’ll listen to me.”
She wasn’t at all sure that was true; she’d seen the zeal in Noble’s eyes as he’d pushed Gus aside.
But I have to try.
She followed in Danny’s footsteps as the two of them started to climb up the saddle.
- Then -
We nearly lost Jeffries on the damned saddle. He slipped at the worst possible instant and slid a good twenty feet before coming to a halt. I took it upon myself to go to his aid and despite the vertiginous drop was able to drag us both to safety, although it took some time and we were both weary to our core by the time we joined to others at the base of the pyramidal peak.
Even then, Johnson was all for plowing on, insistent that we must be close, but as I say, we were all fearfully tired after the day’s exertions. I managed to persuade him that we should set camp in the lee of the peak and press on in the morning when we were fed and rested.
Baloney and beans has never tasted so good, and I even partook of a few slugs from Johnson’s bottle of rye, feeling the need for a stiffener when I thought of the drop we had so narrowly avoided. Jeffries joined me and took the bottle with him when he crawled into his blankets for the night.
This journal is meant to serve as a record of the expedition, a true telling of our journey, but an event has just occurred that has me at a loss to explain. I will lay out the facts of the matter here and let anyone who reads it make their conclusions, for I am unable to reach one of my own.
We had finally bedded down for the night after much excited chatter as to what we might find on the morrow. The night was clear and cold, a blanket of stars above and a shifting, almost luminescent sea of snow below, and I sat at the mouth of the tent with a lantern, transcribing the first three paragraphs that you can read above.
A rustling from outside, at the rear of the tent where we had piled our supplies, interrupted my writing. The old Indian had warned of the danger of bears in the high places. We had brought large-caliber hunting rifles against just such an eventuality; Johnson slept with one at his side although it took me a good minute to wake him, by which time the rustling had become louder. There was definitely something out there, sifting through our gear. My worry was that it would realize there were easier pickings to be had inside the tent.
Once Johnson was awake and fully appraised of the situation, he took charge. Both he and Williamson loaded their weapons and headed out into the night, with the rest of us bringing up the rear, hanging back in a mixture of fear at what might be outside and of caution, not wishing to get in the line of fire.
I got out of the tent just in time to see Johnson raise his gun and fire. A deafening crack echoed across the peak, and there was a high, lonesome wail like a far-off train whistle and a fluttering snap, as of drying sheets in a wind. A dark shadow moved overhead, blocking out the sky for an instant and then there was only silence.
I had the lantern and went forward with Johnson at my side, around the tent to the rear. Something had indeed raked through our supplies. Jeffries’ leather rucksack had been torn asunder and our tools, pickaxe, shovels, and chisels lay strewn on the snow. Luckily, whatever it had been had not reached the food supplies and everything else appeared to be intact.
None of us will get much sleep now. There has been much discussion as to what we scared off and the general consensus is that it was an eagle. But it seems I was the only one who looked up to see it blanket the stars, the only one able to gauge the size of the thing. I have not spoken of this with the others, for they would only ask me how much of Johnson’s rye I’d been drinking.
But I know what I saw. I can only say that if it were an eagle, it was of a prodigious, indeed unheard of, size.
I estimate the wingspan at close to twenty feet.
-Danny-
Danny looked up to see Noble disappear out of view over the edge of the saddle where it met the pyramidal peak.
Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?
He thought about calling out but didn’t think the man would pay him any attention. He concentrated on following in Noble’s footsteps and maintaining his balance, having to lean now against the stiffening wind coming over his right shoulder.
That’s going to make it interesting on the way back.
“You okay back there?” he called out.
“Just keep leaving deep prints,” Jess called back. “I’m following what you do, so don’t fuck up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Danny replied, and despite the situation was smiling as he climbed toward the pyramidal peak.
Just before they reached the base, Noble reappeared, flush with excitement.
“It’s here. The valley’s here, right where Mike said it would be. We’ve found it!”
Before Danny could shout out, the man turned his back and was off again out of sight. Behind them, Gus shouted something but the wind was strengthening further and the words were lost in the whistle. Danny put his head down and moved quicker, making for the spot where they’d last seen Noble. His prints were easy to follow; they ran off the saddle, around the base of the peak, and over a rocky pile. They found him standing on a high ledge, gazing down and west.
“What the hell are you playing at?” Danny asked.
“This isn’t playtime,” Noble replied. “This is the real deal. Look. Just look.”
Finally, Danny did follow the man’s gaze. His breath caught in his throat. A long verdant valley, the green shockingly bright against the white peaks above, stretched away almost to the horizon, a deep v-cut gorge with a flat, glacial floor studded with ponds, rivers, and woodland that reached high up the steep slopes on both sides. Way below, herds of animals—Danny thought some of them might be bison, but at this range, it was hard to tell—clustered in tight groups on grassland or around water.
“How can this be here and nobody know about it?” he said.
“Somebody did know about it,” Noble replied and pointed across to a gouge mark on the slopes across the valley from them. They could just make out the small, dark hole of a cave mouth.
“That looks like a spill heap to me,” Noble said. “Somebody worked that rock face. I’m willing to bet it was our man from the journal and his friends. There’s our mine, Jess. It’s there. We’re going to be rich.”
“Only if you live long enough to see it,” a voice said at their back.
Noble turned, just in time to see Gus’ fist coming for his face. He tried to duck out of it, but the big man’s punch caught him on the side of the head and sent him sprawling on the rocky ledge. Danny saw Noble try to stand.
“Stay down, if you know what’s good for you,” he said and turned back, thinking he’d have to try to hold Gus off. But the big man’s anger was spent as quickly as it had come.
“Asshole,” Gus said and spat in Noble’s direction before turning to Danny.
“We had to come over with you,” he said. “The wind was getting up too hard. We need to find somewhere we can hunker down until it blows itself out. We can’t go back along the saddle until it’s calmer.”
“Back?” Noble said from the ground. “We’re not going back until we’ve checked out that mine.”
“Help yourself,” Gus replied. “I’m done with you. Our contract was finished when you nearly got me killed out there. From here on, you’re on your own.” He turned to check out the view, not down into the valley, but along the slopes to the north where it looked like they might be able to descend to the tree line without too much difficulty.
“We can pitch a camp over there under the trees,” he said, pointing. He looked at the sky. “And we’d best do it soon. Weather’s coming in.”
Noble got to his feet, keeping distance between himself and Gus.
“I’m not pitching camp,” he said. “I’m going down. There’s hours of light left yet.”
Gus shrugged.
“That’s up to you. As I said, our contract is done. But I’d advise against it.”
Noble turned to the others of his team.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s find a way down.”
Mike seemed keen to go with Noble, but both Erik and Jess looked from Gus to Danny, then back at their boss.
“I’m staying with them,” Erik said to Noble. “They know what they’re about up here. We don’t.”
“I agree with Erik,” Jess added. “We’d be stupid to split up at this point.”
“You’re the ones that would be splitting,” Noble said. “Look, the mine’s there. It’s what we came for, isn’t it? And there’ll be a way down…if they got down, so can we.”
