Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the High Sierras

“I suppose there is a reward for the recovery of the plunder, but if there is, you take it. We don’t want it,” said Hippy.

Sheriff Ford protested, but Hippy said the Overland Riders could not consider accepting a reward under any circumstances. Ford said that in such event, the reward would be shared by the members of the posse, and that, in fact, the reward offered by the express company was the principal motive for the posse coming out to try to accomplish what the Pinkertons had thus far failed to do.

The Overlanders were, after considerable hard work, released from their imprisonment in the cave, and it was then that Ford told them of the fight with the bandits, who, he said, were all members of the Jones Boys’ gang. Of ten bandits, the posse had killed or wounded four. They found two who had been wounded before the arrival of the posse, one of whom, Hippy believed, was the fellow he had shot on the shelf of rock, and took four prisoners, including Mother Jones, the mother of the leaders of the gang. Four bandits had succeeded in escaping.

“Mother Jones!” exclaimed the Overlanders.

As it later developed, it was Mother Jones whose face had so frightened Woo, and which Grace Harlowe had seen reflected in the pool. Mother Jones had done the shooting at the Overlanders, following the Overland party’s discovery of the chests in the lake. It was Mother Jones who had fired at them when they were bombarding the lake with boulders.

No time was lost in getting the chests from the bottom of the lake, and none was more interested in the contents than were the original discoverers, the Overland Riders. The chests were found to contain something more than half a million dollars in gold and banknotes, but two other chests stolen from the same shipment never were found, though the lake was dragged from end to end. It was believed that the contents of the missing chests had been divided among the bandits and secreted somewhere in the mountains, but not a man of the Jones gang would admit this to be the fact.

The Overland ponies were found secreted in a mountain defile, and that night there was a jollification in camp, a real feast of venison and trout, songs and story-telling, even Woo Smith indulging in his familiar song, to which no one now objected. Stacy Brown overlooked no opportunity to call attention to the fact that he was the one who had discovered the treasure chests, discovered the log to which they were anchored, and said he supposed that the railroad or the express company owed him a hundred thousand dollars.

“How much do you want? Come now,” urged Sheriff Ford.

“Want?” exclaimed Stacy. “I don’t want anything from you, but I want these unfortunate Overland Riders to appreciate what I have done for them, and I want them to apologize to me for the abuse they heaped on me while I was seeking to transmigrate trouble from their doors.”

Sheriff Ford laughed heartily at Stacy’s remarks.

“For he’s a jolly good fellow,” began Nora Wingate, in which the Overland Riders joined whole-heartedly, even Emma Dean, for the moment, forgetting her feud with Stacy Brown to the extent of keeping time with her lips, Woo Smith independently chattering his “Hi-lee, hi-lo!” shouts of laughter winding up the tribute to the fat boy’s hold on their affections.

The Overland Riders decided to accompany the sheriffs and their party to Gardner. Being well satisfied with their vacation they were now ready to go home. The prisoners and the treasure were taken along to Gardner, which was reached several days later. Then the Riders entrained for home after the most interesting journey they had ever taken. On their way east they elected the irrepressible Chunky to full membership in the Overland Riders, and he promised to accompany them on their next season’s ride.

The story of that ride will be found in a following volume entitled, “Grace Harlowe’s Overland Riders in the Yellowstone National Park.” The mysterious loss of the Riders’ ponies, the raid of the grizzlies, the puzzling robbery at the Springs Hotel, a night of terror on Electric Mountain, the hold-up of the Cumberland coach, and the solving of the Yellowstone mystery, are among the many experiences that befell Grace Harlowe’s Riders on their never-to-be-forgotten journey through the great National Park.

THE END