13 Crooked Cave

The path up the other side of the canyon was clear. Bo-Bo climbed it as fast as she could. She had gooseberry leaves in her fur and thistles in her paws, but she didn’t care.

Because there was a cave near here. And now she suddenly knew what that cave had to be.

She had only been there once.

Her pack had known about it. It was in a gully just beyond the canyon. There was a small opening hidden by a rocky outcropping just above the gully. Thunder had taken them inside to see if there was any food or water. But there wasn’t. Bo-Bo had never thought about it again.

It was the only cave close to the canyon. It must be Crooked Cave.

Bo-Bo ran up the last hill between her and the cave. Choi Hung soared above her. Sheng scrambled behind them, trying to keep up.

“We did it!” Bo-Bo barked excitedly to Choi Hung. “We found Crooked Cave!”

She reached the top of the hill and flopped down in the warm grass. She looked down into the gully.

Oh no. It can’t be. Her joy vanished.

“Trouble, dog. Big trouble,” Choi Hung trilled softly.

There were men everywhere. And horses. Bo-Bo heard the clang of pickaxes against rocks. She heard the cracking of rocks as they split. The men weren’t using the small opening under the outcropping. They were clearing a pile of stones that hid a bigger entrance in the side of the hill. As they broke and cleared away the rocks, they propped up the entrance with wooden beams.

“Hurry up, you lazy louts!” Bo-Bo heard a man’s voice say. “Or you won’t get paid a nickel.”

Bo-Bo’s blood turned to ice.

Mr. Smeets.

He was holding out a big piece of paper in front of him. It had marks on it. It looked like Sheng’s map, only it wasn’t tattered. The ringtail had said Mr. Smeets got the map last night. Bo-Bo remembered the piece of paper that had fallen out of his jacket in town. He must have made an extra copy for himself.

He’d said he had to do some things outside of town! He had horses and he’d gotten there before them.

Bo-Bo heard footsteps pounding up behind her. Sheng ran up the hill. She didn’t want him to see the men at the cave. The smile on his face broke her heart. He thought they were about to find Crooked Cave. The legendary cave of gold. He thought he’d be able to pay for the bear and save the claim.

He reached the top. He stopped and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

“Good girl,” he said. He ruffled Bo-Bo’s ears. Then he peered over the edge.

The look on his face when he saw the men was something Bo-Bo didn’t think she could stand. It was as though a lamp, the golden lamp that had lit up his eyes on the climb up, had gone out.

“So Mr. Smeets stole this, too,” Sheng muttered. “It’s not right. Nothing about this is right.”

I should never have freed Resilience! Bo-Bo thought in misery. We’d be home now, fixing supper and listening to Uncle Gwan’s stories!

But would she take it back if she could?

It’s not weak to care what happens to other creatures, and to help them! she’d told Thunder. The words were still true.

It wasn’t right to keep Resilience in a cage, or the ringtail on a chain!

No. Bo-Bo wouldn’t undo what she’d done. Even if she could.

And she wouldn’t let Smeets and his men win now.

She got to her paws.

“What are you doing?” Choi Hung squawked.

“Be quiet,” Bo-Bo ordered. “I know another way in. I’m getting some gold. You keep an eye on Sheng. Make sure he stays put.”

She padded along the hillside and down a narrow trail. The shelf of rock hung over the gap in the earth. It partially hid the small opening her pack had used to get inside.

She scooted through. And then she was on a narrow ledge inside. The cave roof yawned high above her. Some of the men were inside too. They were far below her. She crawled along the ledge on her belly and looked over the side.

The men had put up more tall beams of wood to hold up the cave entrance on the inside. They’d set out lanterns to light the gloom.

There it was—gold! There were stacks and stacks of rocks, and each and every one of them glittered with veins of gold. The rocks were already mined, just waiting there on the cave floor. Men were putting them into canvas bags and taking them to the big cave entrance. All Bo-Bo had to do was get enough of them and bring them back to Sheng.

She heard heavy breathing and footsteps behind her. Her nose twitched. Sheng! He had followed her into the cave.

“Good girl, Bo-Bo!” he whispered. Choi Hung hovered above his head.

“I told you to keep him there!” Bo-Bo said to Choi Hung.

“Bossy, belligerent beast!” Choi Hung retorted. “You try to get humans to stay where they belong.”

Sheng crouched down and looked over the ledge.

“Look at all that gold! We need ten ounces. Each of those rocks must have at least three or four ounces running through it! If we can even get three of them, everything will be all right.”

Just then, one of the men looked up.

“Hey!” he said. “There’s that kid from town!”

“He’ll tell people where the cave is!” another said.

Mr. Smeets looked up.

“Get him,” Mr. Smeets said. “Don’t let him leave this cave alive.”