Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/91

Rh "I know the country," he said. "An' I'm needin' a job for a fresh stake. How long do ye figger on wantin' me?"

"You can come back as soon as we decide on a permanent camp," said Stone. "We may want you to stay around until we run into any Indians or they into us. We'd like to establish friendly relations with them if we can." Diamond Dick threw back his head and guffawed.

"Fr'en'ly relations with Apaches? Thet's sure a good 'un," he said. "They may leave ye alone. 'Pends upon what they think you're doin' up thar. 'Pends some on the mood they happen to be in. You can't tell a thing about it till we git close to their line. They may leave ye alone, they may warn ye, or they may start in to raise hell an' ha'r from the jump. But they won't be fr'en'ly. You can bank on that. They ain't no more fr'en'ship in a 'Pache to'ards a white man than they is juice in lava rock.

"But," he went on, "I can show you cliffs where the passages go back for miles, with runnin' water soundin' way in, an' pools that ain't got a bottom. Dug by Indians for cisterns, I reckon. I can show you pits where the steam comes a rollin' out like it was the mouth of hell. An' ruins, if thet's what you're after. Cross-walls way back in the heart of the limestone. Picters grav6ed on the walls, store-houses o' mummied corn-cobs, hand-mills for grinding it, stone hammers an' axes, arrer-heads of agate. Up in Stone Men Cañon, where the water comes out of the cliffs so thick with lime it 'ud petrify a lizard