Above the Bridge (24 page)

“That does sound tempting,” she replied, realizing that she did feel thirsty after the morning’s trek up the rocky cliff and back.

“There’s a covered bucket of water out back, in the shed just past that small wagon.  Help yourself,” Jeremiah said.  “I’ve got these stalls to finish and then these horses need saddling up, but the key’s hanging on the wall over there.”  He motioned toward the back door of the barn with his hand as he picked up the pitchfork and leaned against it.

She walked toward the back door of the barn, certain she could feel Jeremiah’s eyes following her.  It seemed odd that he hadn’t offered to bring the water to her.   But by the time she reached the door, she already suspected what she would find.  Hanging on a rusty nail, a ray of sunlight hitting it in a striking contrast to the barn’s dark, wooden walls, was the skeleton key.

She started to reach forward and then hesitated, turning around.  Jeremiah still stood there, leaning against the pitchfork and watching her.  He was silent, a gentle smile on his face.  Paige slowly returned the smile, finding the will to whisper across the space between them.

“Thank you, Jeremiah,” she said softly before turning back towards the wall.  Without pausing this time, she reached for the key.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The sudden pounding on the front door startled Jake and caused him to jump.  His nerves were already frayed from a long night spent watching the fire and waiting anxiously for any sign of Paige.  He stood up quickly and turned away from the fireplace.  But he barely had time to take a step forward before the front door flew open and Paige burst in.  She looked exhausted and somewhat disheveled, but her face was flushed with excitement and her eyes were wide and animated.

“I know where it’s buried,” Paige exclaimed.  She leaned against the wing-backed chair, taking in quick gulps of air, attempting to catch her breath.

“How…” Jake started to ask, but Paige immediately shook her head and brushed the question away.

“Jake, there’s no way I can explain this, not any way that would be believable,” Paige said in a rush of words.  “But I’m telling you, I know where it is.  You’ve got to trust me on this.”

There was no use arguing.  Jake moved the logs in the fire around, so that only embers remained, then doused them with water to make sure they were out.  He then grabbed his keys and headed for his truck, with Paige already a good twenty feet ahead.

Jake drove carefully, but couldn’t help pushing a little heavily on the accelerator at times.  At Paige’s direction, he headed towards the main highway.  As he approached the Gros Ventre junction, he signaled to turn right, but Paige indicated that he needed to turn left, instead.

“Just head toward town,” Paige said anxiously.

“But I’m sure…”  Jake started to argue, keeping his foot pressed down on the brake pedal.

“No,” Paige said, cutting him off quickly.  “You’ve been looking in the wrong place. Turn left.  I’ll show you where we need to go.”

Paige kept her eyes to the north as they headed south along the highway.  She surveyed the flat, open land that stretched across to the mountains on the east side of the valley.  A few elk grazed in the field, midway between the road and the foothills. As they approached the town, Paige watched the landscape carefully, noting where slabs of rock began rising abruptly and judging the distance between those points and the town.

“That’s where it is,” she said suddenly, pointing across the field at a snow-capped area at the top of the mountains.  “That’s the right distance from town.  I’m sure that’s the place.”

Jake turned his head to follow Paige’s outstretched arm.

“Sleeping Indian?” he responded, looking at the mountains and then back at Paige.

“What’s Sleeping Indian?”  Paige asked.

“Look up at the top of the mountain,” Jake said.  “If you look carefully, you’ll see the Indian’s face and headdress to the right and the body across to the left.”

Paige studied the curves of the mountain top until the image Jake was describing registered.

“You’re right,” she said slowly, “I just hadn’t noticed it before.  That makes sense, then…”  Her voice trailed off as she thought about the phrases she had overheard in Tuttle’s Saloon.

“What makes sense?”  Jake asked, more and more confused by Paige’s statements.

“Nothing,” Paige answered quickly.  “In fact, I’m not sure anything makes sense anymore.  I’ve had to put a lot of things together.  Anyway, we’re going to have to hike in there from town.  We’ll follow the edge of the mountainside.”

Jake gave her another puzzled look.   “We don’t have to hike in from town.  I mean, we’ll have to hike up the mountain section, but there’s a road that leads up there, back behind the Elk Refuge.”

“There is?” Paige asked, surprised.

Jake laughed.  “You know, for someone so sure of where we’re going, you sure don’t know how we’re getting there.”

Paige motioned impatiently for Jake to keep driving as she drew upon memory and threw directions out along the way.  Once in town, they took a left at Broadway and traveled east, taking another left to head down the dirt road behind the National Elk Refuge.  First smooth and flat, it grew increasingly rough as they drove on.

“It’s a good thing we brought your truck,” Paige said, thankful for the distance they’d be able to cover without having to hike, or go on horseback, for that matter.

As the road continued, it became narrow and uneven.  The recent rain had left scattered potholes and muddy puddles along the route.  Rolling the window down, Paige glanced ahead at the winding turns before them.  They still had a good distance to go.  The truck followed the road as far as possible, veering to the right at several forks and finally approaching a steep, wooded area, where they pulled over and parked.

“This is as far as we can take the truck,” Jake said, turning off the engine.  ‘But there’s a footpath up ahead somewhere on the right.”

Paige climbed out of the truck and headed immediately for the mountainside.  Jake grabbed a jacket and backpack from the rear of the truck, hustling to catch up.  The untended trail was not difficult to locate.  As the incline of the slope increased, the foliage grew thicker. Though the trees were taller and more numerous in some areas, much of the landscape was as she remembered.  It was some time before they came to the trio of trees and large boulder, but when they did, there was no question in Paige’s mind that it was the right place.

“They’re so tall now…”  Paige muttered absentmindedly, standing in the middle of the three trees and looking up, her neck stretched back.

“You know, Paige, you’re really acting a little strange,” Jake said hesitantly.  “Maybe this isn’t the best time to try this.”

“We’re not stopping now,” Paige said firmly, turning towards the upward slope and stepping forward.  Jake shook his head, resigning himself to continuing up the trail.  Even if she had no idea what she was doing, she was clearly determined.  He’d follow along, if only to make sure she made it up and back safely.

For what seemed like a long time, they fought the rough terrain, climbing over fallen trees and rocky stretches, losing and catching their footing several times.  At one point Paige slipped, sliding a good two feet off the side of the trail.  Standing back up, she brushed the dirt off and moved forward, ignoring another offer from Jake to turn back.

Paige felt confident she was proceeding forward on track, but as they reached the ledge she became disoriented.  The view to the valley matched what she remembered, but the ledge itself barely resembled the one she had stood on before.  Not nearly as wide, it was covered with piles of fallen rocks, leaving little flat area on which to stand.  The surface was covered with thick brush and the edge seemed to drop off more sharply than before.  It was also much shorter, ending in a massive stack of rock and brush only a few feet from where they stood.

“This has to keep going,” Paige said, pointing in the direction of the tall stack of rocks.  She walked over to the pile and attempted to look over the top.  Taking a step up, her foot just slid back down, bringing a few rocks tumbling down.

“Paige, this is too dangerous,” Jake said, looking over the ledge at the sharp drop.  “Those rocks are not secure.  It’s too risky to continue.”  He paused before adding, “And we’re not even sure there’s anything here.”

Paige turned sharply to face Jake.  Before she even spoke, he knew his arguments weren’t going to convince her to turn back.

“This is where it is, Jake!  This is what you’ve been looking for all these years!  How can you turn away from it now?”  

Paige pivoted around to face the rocks again and began brushing some away, leaving only the largest, sturdiest ones in place.  Eventually, a clearing opened up and she climbed forward, where she looked over the remaining pile of rocks to find a narrow section of the ledge that continued on.  Jake steadied her as she crossed over the rock pile and dropped down on the other side.  He was just seconds behind her.

The ledge grew increasingly narrow, its edge dropping off sharply and showing signs of heavy erosion.  Turning sideways to continue, Paige and Jake inched their way along the rock wall, feeling relief when they reached a wider section just before it ended abruptly.  Paige turned to face the steep rock wall, searching the surface for any cracks or crevices.

“What is it?”  Jake asked, watching her confused expression.

“I don’t understand,” Paige said.  “There should be a cave here, but there’s nothing.”  She continued to inspect the area, but found no trace of any opening.  Discouraged, she sat down against the wall and looked out over the valley.  It seemed impossible that she could remember the way here and yet be wrong about the end of the trail.

Deep in thought, she didn’t hear Jake start to speak, but as the sound of his voice registered, she turned towards him.

“What did you say?” she asked quickly, “Just a minute ago?”

“Earthquakes,” Jake repeated.  “There’ve been plenty of earthquakes in this area over the years.  I don’t know where you got the idea there was a cave here, but if it’s something you found in your research of the area’s history, it may have gotten covered by shifting rocks during earthquake activity.”

“That could explain changes in the cliff,” Paige thought out loud, looking around her.  With a sinking feeling, she realized the cave might not exist at all anymore.  There would be no way to reach the gold if nothing but solid rock surrounded it now.

She stood quickly and turned toward the rocky surface, kneeling down to inspect the area where the cliff met the ledge.  Brushing aside dirt with her hands, she began digging faster.  Jake, following her lead, started digging a few feet away.

The ground was packed solidly against the rock, but slowly began to break off into small clods of dirt.  Using loose rocks as picks, Paige and Jake smashed the sharp edges against the wall, breaking off more of the dirt and releasing larger rocks from the packed terrain.  Hours passed and the muscles in their arms ached from repetitive use.  Yet only small sections of the wall fell forward.

“It’s no use, Paige,” Jake said, setting the sharp rock he’d been using down on the ledge and urging her to do the same.

Paige, exhausted and discouraged, didn’t respond, though she was starting to fear that Jake might be right.

She lifted her arm high yet again and let the rock crash sharply against the wall with full force.  One last time she repeated the motion, at which point the rocky surface suddenly budged inward, rather than tumbling forward onto the ledge like before.  Paige stared at the wall and then shouted over her shoulder to Jake.

“It’s here!” she yelled, repeatedly striking the area that had given in.  With a few more blows, the dirt against the rock also crumbled inward, leaving a small hole in its place.  Jake moved over by Paige and wedged the rock he was holding into the hole.  With a little force, additional rock also dislodged and fell inward.  One section at a time, they worked furiously together as more pieces of the wall fell away, leaving a growing opening into a dark space within the rocky cliff.  Finally, they determined the opening was wide enough for them to fit through, one at a time.

With Jake adamant about leading, Paige followed behind until they were both crouched down inside the darkness.  As opposed to the changes on the outside, the interior of the cave looked much the same.  Heading quickly to the back of the cave and then into the side extension, Paige located the small inner cavern, kicked a clutter of rocks out of the way and threw herself flat against the ground.  Sliding her arm into the opening and easing her body up against the wall, she reached in as far as she could, but felt nothing with her fingers.  Trying to push herself closer to the wall, she stretched until it seemed her shoulder would pop out of its socket.  Still she felt nothing. Even the back wall was out of reach.

“My arm’s not long enough,” Paige said.  “You’re going to have to do this.”  She backed away from the wall, sitting up and moving aside to allow Jake room to approach the opening. 

Sliding down on the floor, Jake repeated the same motions Paige had made, pushing his shoulder up against the wall and feeling the interior of the cavern with his hand.

“Do you feel the back wall?”  Paige asked anxiously.

Jake grunted a little as he moved around on the ground.  “I feel the back wall with my fingers, but there’s nothing there.”