He unfolded it and showed it to the youths.—Page257.
Upon the map was marked prominently amidst a maze of marks "The Lone Pine," and under it was drawn a crude representation of a blasted, leafless tree of seemingly great size. Now Tomwas certain that he had seen no such tree in the vicinity of the cavern. The map, however, did show a canyon similar to the one where the cave was, and also indicated a cave at about the same location. Not far from it a red star showed where the gold was supposed to lie.
Tom glanced up at Stapleton from a scrutiny of the map. As he did so, the suspicion that had flashed across him at their first meeting revisited him. But this time it was a stronger and more sinister impression. He looked at Jack, but apparently he had noticed nothing amiss.
THE DEAD MAN'S MINE.
"How did you come into possession of this paper?" asked Tom, feeling an irresistible curiosity concerning the matter.
A look of cunning crept into Stapleton's eyes. His tone grew confidential.
"It's as odd a story as ever you heard," he said. "Do you want to hear it?"
"By all means."
"Well then, it all happened some years back when I befriended an old fellow in the Greenhorn Mountains in Californy. He was a prospector an' had got himself chawed up by a bar. I came across him on the trail an' took him to my cabin and nursed him as well as I could. But I seen frum the first that the old fellow was too far gone to get over his injuries.
"To begin with, he was too old and feeble anyhow, an' then again that bar had clawed and chawed him till he was a mass of wounds. Well, I neglected my work on the claim I had located there, and spent the best part of my time smoothing out the last hours of that old chap's life. I never knew where he came from or how he came to be a prospector, but before he crossed the Great Divide he gave me the astonisher of my life. By his directions I took a package wrapped in oiled paper from his old ragged coat and laid it on the bed afore him.
"Finally frum some old letters and such truck he produces that there plan I just showed you. He said I'd been so kind to him and cheered his last moments, so that having neither chick nor child he wanted to make me a legacy. He said he'd make me the richest man in the world for what I'd done for him.
"Well, he explained before he passed away what all them marks and lines on the plan meant,and made it all as clear as print. Then he told me the story of Dead Man's Mine.
"About thirty years ago a band of trappers found a rich deposit of gold in these hills. But on their way to civilization with it, they were drowned on the Yukon and only one escaped to tell the tale. He was crazy from his sufferings in gettin' back to civilization, and when he stumbled across a camp of Aleuts they took care of him, having a sort of religious reverence for crazy people. He died among those natives."
"It's a gruesome story," remarked Tom, "but how, then, did the facts become known?"
"Hold on. I'm gettin' to that. Years later an Aleut told the story to a white hunter who had been good to him, and gave him the plan which the crazy man had drawn on a bit of whalebone in lucid intervals. As you may suppose, the white hunter was all worked up over it, as a scratched message on the whalebone said there was more gold left in Dead Man's Mine, that'swhat the crazy man called it, than had been taken out.
"Well, an expedition was made up by the white hunter to go after the gold, but the natives got wind of it and wiped 'em all out, only one escaping to civilization, and that was the old man who died in my hut back there in the Sierras. He tried twice to get back to the mine by the plan he had copied on to paper from the whalebone. But each time disaster overtook him. Once his men deserted him, declaring he was insane. Another time, winter caught him napping and he got out to the coast more dead than alive.
"He drifted down to the Pacific Coast and tried to get capital to back another expedition, or somebody to grubstake him, but he couldn't do it, and at last he gave up in disgust. He was all alone in the world anyhow, he said, and was too old to enjoy the money if he had got it. Then he wandered off alone, and the bear got him, as I said afore. Soon after he had told me this storyand made me promise to try to find the gold, he passed out, and I buried him back there on a hillside under a big pine above the Stanislaus."
"A remarkable story," commented Tom. "And you think that you have located the Dead Man's Mine at last?"
"Not a doubt of it. Seth and I have spent ten years looking for it, andthis is the spot."
"How do you know?"
"It tallies with the plan in every particular. The gold is here."
Again came that strange gleam which every mention of the yellow metal evoked in Stapleton's wild eyes.
"But where's the lone pine that is pictured on the plan?" objected Tom.
"Oh, that. Probably some storm blew it down or it rotted away. You must remember thirty years have passed since that crazy man drew the plan."
"Hasn't it occurred to you that relying on aplan drawn by a man whose sufferings had turned his brain is a rather uncertain business?"
"See here, partner,——" began Stapleton, but at this instant the silent, sullen-faced Seth entered the cavern, and Stapleton, who appeared to stand rather in awe of him, subsided into silence.
There was something on the mind of Tom Dacre which Stapleton's story had almost clinched into a certainty. Circumstances forbade his making his suspicions known to Jack, but he resolved to do so at the first opportunity. It was a communication that must be made when they were alone. It would never do for the two men to hear it.
Tom had noticed that when Seth left the cavern he had carried a rifle and supposed it was for game. Now, however, he began to suspect another reason when he saw for the first time that the man also had a spyglass with him.The boy decided to put a leading question to Stapleton.
"Are you not afraid of anyone else coming to know your secret and following you here?"
Stapleton's eyes flashed. Then he spoke in low, impressive tones.
"If we caught anyone doing that, we'd shoot him down like a mad dog!"
Tom's heart sank. The inference was only too plain. He was glad that Jack, who had gone to the mouth of the cave, had not heard Stapleton's emphatic remark. If the men felt like that, it was unlikely that the boys would be allowed to go, and this, with the other suspicion mentioned, had been gnawing at Tom's mind ever since they had entered the cavern. So sure was he that they were virtually prisoners, that he did not ask any more questions. He dared not confirm his suspicions in so many words.
He joined Jack at the door of the cavern. It afforded an extensive view. Below it, and tothe left at the foot of a high conical peak, were plain traces of the miners' labors. Much of the work looked fresh, and they noticed that numerous workings had been started and apparently abandoned. The work must have been going on for quite a considerable period, judging from the look of things, which indicated, also, that so far the searchers had not been successful in their quest.
Tom glanced back into the cave over his shoulder. Rufus was busy stirring the big stew pot. The two men were conversing with occasional glances at the boys. Tom drew Jack a little aside and gave a swift whisper in his ear.
"Do you know that we are prisoners?"
"What!"
"Hush, not so loud. Those men are both as crazy as loons. I suspected it some time ago. Now I am sure of it. It's a thousand chances to one that this isn't the location of Dead Man's Mine, even if there is such a place."
"Good gracious!"
"Even going by the plan, they are way off. But it would be likely to throw them into a terrible rage even to hint such a thing."
"It looks as if we are in a mighty bad fix!"
"We are. You can be sure from what was said that they don't mean to let us leave here till gold is found, which will never occur."
"You are sure of what you say?"
Jack looked sick and pale. Tom's face was grave and sober-looking.
"I'm not an alarmist. We are in the hands of a pair of maniacs. We and that negro are the only sane persons in this camp. We must be very careful or we may arouse them to violence."
"Then we are virtuallyprisoners?"
"I'm afraid there is no other way of putting it, old fellow. We must be careful and keep our eyes open night and day, for we are in just about as bad a dilemma as we ever have experienced."
IN NEED OF A FRIEND.
Tom's guess had hit the nail on the head. It was all true. Jim Stapleton and Seth Ingalls were not the first men to have their brains turned by an insatiable lust for gold. On every other subject perfectly normal, they were insane on this one topic.
It was the peculiar light that shone in Stapleton's eyes when he spoke of the yellow metal that had first excited Tom's doubts. Seth Ingalls' sullen, taciturn manner had shown that he was afflicted with a different form of the same mania. In Jim Stapleton's case it took the twist of a desire to confide in the boys his glorious prospects. In Seth Ingalls the same malady induced a dark, secretive manner and a suspicion that everybody was in search of their secret.
The alarming situation of our two young friends may be thus summed up. They were in the hands of two desperate and powerful lunatics, who almost assuredly would not let them depart until the fabulous deposit of gold was discovered. The boys did not dare even to mention the subject of leaving the cavern or the camp, for fear of arousing the men's suspicions, in which case it appeared almost certain that the two crazed miners would unhesitatingly forcibly restrain them or kill them.
Both of the lads recalled reading of such cases, but Jim Stapleton and Seth Ingalls were the first living examples of the gold seeking form of insanity with which they had come in contact. There had not been a word of fiction in Jim Stapleton's account of how he came by the chart, by means of which he and his friend Ingalls had joined forces and started on their insane quest. It was all as true as gospel.
The ten years of search in the wild solitudesof the north, their hopes, their disappointments, their privations had turned their brains. Lured on by their dazzling vision of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, they had kept up, with an insane persistence, their search, till at last they had stumbled across this spot back of the Frying Pan Range which did, in very fact, look like the site of the new Golconda as described on the old, time-yellowed map.
The main defect of the whole scheme had been detected by Tom. The original plan had been the work of a man whose brain was admittedly turned by sufferings and hardships. It possessed, moreover, one inherent flaw, and that was that while the Frying Pan Range was indicated in a general manner on the map, the precise spot in which the gold lay was not set forth. It might have been anywhere along the four hundred miles of solitary, unexplored country the range traversed.
It was apparent to Tom that the two men,driven half insane by their long hunt, had taken for granted when they came across the spot in which they were now encamped, that they had at last struck El Dorado. Whether the objections that had at once flashed into his mind had ever occurred to them, or whether they had willfully ignored them, tempted beyond their judgment by theignis fatuusof the gold hunters' lust, mattered little. Tom was certain that they had made a woeful mistake and were miles from the hiding place of the fabled gold, even if such a place had ever existed.
Granting that the gold mine described on the chart did exist, only chance could have given them success. But accompanied by their faithful black, whose brain alone had not given way under the continued strain, they had stuck to the quest till their judgment was warped and they were ready to accept almost any site that bore even a fancied resemblance to the blurred outlines of the dead miner's map.
In nothing, in fact, was their mental unsoundness more startlingly indicated as in their determination that this was the right place on which they had stumbled, despite the almost self-evident proofs that it was not.
They had been established in the cavern for some three months when Tom and Jack had so unfortunately stumbled upon them. When they encountered the boys and held that whispered consultation, the lives of our two young friends had literally hung in the balance. For the object of that talk was whether they should despatch the boys forthwith and thus render them incapable of spreading the secret (for they were convinced they were spies sent out by fancied enemies), or whether they should take them into their confidence and hold them prisoners till they reached the gold. This latter event they fancied was not far distant, and they finally decided to hasten its coming by holding the lads captives and making them do their share of the work.
In their warped minds this course was quite justifiable, as they intended, when they struck the vast wealth they imagined awaited them, to reimburse the lads a thousandfold for their labors. This was the main cause of their sparing the boys' lives. They needed extra help to enable them to reach their fancied gold quickly and therefore they decided not to slay them outright.
The boys knew that this success would, in all human probability, never be attained, while the men were equally certain that the achievement of their golden hopes was but a few days or weeks distant at most.
Their only course, they decided, after a necessarily hasty whispered consultation, was to pretend to fall in with whatever plan the crazy gold hunters might propose to them, and work or do whatever might be required with all the cheerfulness they could muster. In this way, and in this way alone, could they hope to lull the suspicions of the two men who held them in their power.
It was the only course that promised hope. To attempt to escape would be rash in the extreme, and might have fatal results.
They had about reached this conclusion when Stapleton strolled out.
"My partner and I have been talking," he said, "and we have decided to give you youngsters a chance to share in our fortunes. Of course you won't get an equal share, but since you have found us out, we mean to make you work and will reward you well for it. We'll make you wealthy for the rest of your lives."
"You mean that you want us to help you in your gold hunt?" asked Tom.
"That's it exactly. We can't be far from the gold now. A few more days will bring us to it. The more hands the lighter work, so you may consider yourselves elected members of the firm."
"It's very kind of you," said Tom gravely. Jack was beyond speech.
"That's all right, we like you. If you will be useful to us, we'll make you rich. Rufus might have had the same chance, but he doesn't appear to want to take it. He just keeps on cooking and keeping things to rights in the cave."
Tom was weighing every word carefully before he answered.
"I suppose Rufus is just lazy and doesn't like to work," he hazarded.
"Oh, no; it isn't that. He's energetic enough when he wants to be. But it's something quite different."
"Indeed?"
"Yes; sometimes we think he's a little cracked. What do you suppose he says?"
"I've no idea."
"Why, that we have made a mistake, and that this isn't Dead Man's Mine at all, and that there is no such place."
Tom nudged Jack and broke into a laugh as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.Jack gave a ghastly echo of his companion's cleverly assumed mirth.
"What can have given him such an idea as that?" asked Tom.
"Well, we've shown him the chart once or twice, but he's so thick he can't make head or tail of it. Why, the poor, benighted idiot asked us once if this was the place where was that dead tree that shows on the chart."
"And what did you say?"
"Just what I told you. The tree had either blown down, rotted away or been struck by lightning."
The earnestness with which the unfortunate victim of an hallucination sought to explain away everything was pitiable.
"That stopped his objections, I suppose," said Tom.
"Oh, yes. He said nothing more. Seth said that if he heard any more rubbish from him, he'd shut him up effectually and we have heardno more from him on the subject. That's the reason we think that Rufus is a little off. He gets such queer ideas in his head."
"Oh, well, we are all liable to get our ideas mixed up a bit sometimes," was Tom's diplomatic reply.
But as Stapleton turned back into the case, his heart sank. The man was even crazier than he had thought. He actually thought that by detaining the boys he was doing them a good turn.
Through the gloom that obsessed his spirits, only one ray of light shone and that was this:
From what Stapleton had said the boy had deduced one clear fact. Rufus the negro was, apparently, the only one of the trio in the full possession of his senses. In an emergency they would have to trust to the black man to help them.
Would he do it?
It was a question upon which much depended at the crisis the boys' affairs had reached.
—AND A FRIEND IN NEED.
There were several reasons that inclined Tom to look for aid from this quarter. In the first place Rufus, although seemingly bound to his masters by bonds of affection, had no direct interest in their crazy schemes. In the second place, he had distinctly shown a friendly interest in the boys as had been evidenced when he winked his eye enjoining silence on them. And in the third place, persons of African descent are notoriously less liable, on account of their lower intelligence, to seizures of insanity than persons gifted with higher intellect.
But whether they could count upon the black to aid them was quite another matter. They did not for some time find an opportunity to put the matter to a test. Supper was eaten and theboys, despite their anxiety, made a hearty meal. During its progress they conversed with their hosts, who talked quite rationally on all subjects but their fabulous gold mine.
Anyone coming across the party and not knowing the facts of the case would have taken them to be a jolly band of explorers or miners rather than what they were, two lunatics and two boys who were in their power. When he got an opportunity to do so, Tom stole a look at Rufus' face. It was a round, good-natured countenance, but for any expression that would give him a clew as to how Rufus was inclined toward them, the boy might as well have regarded a graven image of ebony.
After supper the two miners got out their pipes, but Seth had not puffed his long when he suddenly sprang to his feet, dashed the pipe to the ground and burst out in an irritated tone:
"Here we are losing time that ought to be spent in work. This may cause us serious delayin getting the gold out; it may cost us billions of dollars before we get through."
His companion's face lighted up with its odd, gleaming-eyed expression at the mention of the topic.
"That's right, Seth," he assented, "we ought to be at work. We may be keeping the youngsters here out of a fortune as well as ourselves."
Tom caught Rufus' eye at this juncture and thought that he detected a friendly gleam in it, but he gave no sign and soon averted his gaze for fear it might attract the men's attention. It cannot be said that Tom and Jack felt much enthusiasm, but they made a good assumption of it and seized upon picks and shovels as if they were going to make their fortunes the next minute.
The "mine," as has been said, was at the foot of the tall, conical peak. On close inspection, Tom and Jack were amazed at the amount of work the two fanatics had done on it. Tons ofdirt and gravel had been excavated. A deep hole ran right into the ground under the sharp pointed peak.
"Quite a hole, eh, boys?" asked Stapleton in a satisfied tone.
"Indeed it is," assented Tom. "Why, you have done more work than I should have thought possible for two men to accomplish."
"Ah, we'll get along twice as fast now with four pairs of arms," chuckled poor, crazed Stapleton gleefully. "The gold can't be far off, either."
"But if we keep on," objected Jack, hoping it would have some weight, "we shall undermine the whole of that conical mountain above there."
The same crafty glitter that Tom had been the first of the boys to note in Stapleton's eyes now shone in those of his taciturn companion.
"That's the scheme," explained Seth, hastily but enthusiastically. "You and your friend will dig from this side. Jim and I will start work onthe other. In that way we'll meet halfway and we're bound to find the gold. We can't miss it."
"Good gracious," thought Tom, "he's crazier than Jim, and that's saying a whole lot. What a pickle we are in!"
"Come, let's go to work!" cried Jim eagerly.
It was easy to be seen that with their golden dream before their eyes, mere physical labor had no terrors for these men. They would work till they dropped before they abandoned their task.
There was no help for it, and with the best grace they could Tom and Jack picked up their tools, jumped into the hole and began to work. The men watched them for a while.
"That's fine," applauded Jim; "that's the way to make the dirt fly. Keep that up and we shan't grudge you your share of the gold. There's enough under here to make a hundred people millionaires."
With that, Jim and the other man set off to the other side of the conical peak. As this wasquite some distance off, it will be seen that they planned to dig a subway on quite an extensive plan. In fact, the idea would have never entered into the head of a normal being.
As they vanished Tom quit work and leaned on his shovel.
"Well, I'll be jiggered! This is a fine go, isn't it, Jack?"
Jack flung down his pick with a snort
"Those fellows belong in an asylum, that's where they ought to be. What are you grinning at? I don't see anything funny in all this."
"I was just thinking that we came up here for a holiday, and it looks very much as if we were going to share the fate of those convicts who are condemned to the mines."
"Well, if you can see a joke in that, you've got a fine sense of humor, that's all I can say. Condemned to the mines, eh? Yes, and it looks uncommonly as if we'd get a life sentence, too."
"Come, don't be downcast, Jack. After all, itmight have been worse. They might have shot us."
"Humph! That's so, too; but I don't know that it would have been much worse than this. Tunnel under this mountain, indeed! Why it would take a hundred men a hundred years to do it!"
"Yes, and then it would fall on the top of them. But don't let's discuss that phase of the matter. This mountain will never be tunneled under."
"How do you know?"
"At any rate, not without assistance. But we can only make one attempt to get away."
"Why is that?"
"For the simple reason that if one fails we'll never get another. We are dealing with lunatics, remember that, Jack."
"As if I could forget it! They're the worst pair of looneys I ever saw."
"That being so, it won't do to take any chances. We must work and quiet their suspicions. Thenwhen the chance comes we must take it; but we must be sure it is the right chance."
"In the meantime, what of the folks on theYukon Rover?"
"They will have to form the best theory they can to account for our absence; but I'm afraid that they will be worrying themselves to death."
"That can't be helped. I'll bet they're not worrying any more than we are."
"There's just one hopeful feature about this whole business," resumed Tom, ignoring Jack's irritable remark.
"What's that?"
"Rufus, the negro. How can we utilize him?"
"You think he is friendly?"
"I can't be sure. At any rate, he's not crazy, and certain things made me think he might be disposed to aid us. But if he should, he'd be in danger, too, and——"
"Hey, you white folks down dar! How youlak shovelin' dirt, huh? Das a po'ful big mountain you alls has got ter underminerate."
They looked up. Over the top of the excavation the round, black face of the negro who had been the topic of their talk and thoughts, was looking down at them with a broad grin that exposed a double row of gleaming white teeth.
CONDEMNED TO THE MINES.
"I should say it is," rejoined Tom heartily, returning the fellow's good natured smile, "the New York subway was a child's game to it."
"Das right. Dis gwine ter be reg'lar scrubway ef it don' turn out ter be a graveyard."
"Where are Mr. Stapleton and Ingalls?"
"Roun' t'other side ob dis hill. I seen 'em frum up above. What' you all figger de matter wid dem?"
"Why, I think that their minds have been turned by this gold hunt, Rufus. They're crazy."
The negro laughed aloud.
"Das jus whar you all is puffickly right. Dey's as crazy as two pertater bugs wid de prickly heat. But Lawd bress you, you can't tell dem so.No sah! Dey thinks dat ebberybody else am nutty but themselves. Dat's dere collusion."
"So we discovered."
"Wa'al, dey ain't no manner on ob use argyfyin' wid such folks."
"No. The only thing is to agree with them," said Tom with a sigh, but he was glad to see that the black appeared to be friendly.
"Ah specs dat work agrees with dem better dan it does wid you alls, howsomever," said the grinning negro, showing all his teeth in appreciation of his own joke.
"Naturally," said Jack, "it's not what we'd choose, you can be sure, even were there gold down here, which I'm quite sure there isn't."
"Don' you go fo' to tell eiber ob dem dat," cried the negro. "Dey liable as not to rile up an' polish you off. Dey tink dat befo' long we all gwine ter be millionaires."
"I'd hate to have to wait till that event comes off," said Tom with feeling.
"Rufus," burst out Jack, "we'll die if we have to stay here. We know, too, that they don't mean to let us leave."
"Dem's de truest words you ebber spoke," said Rufus with conviction. "Dey's so crazy dat dey tinks dat eberybody dat comes near dem is tryin' ter steal dere secret. As sho' as dey catch you tryin' to sneak off, dey plug you sho' as shootin'."
"Do they keep watch all night?" asked Tom.
"Dey neber misses. Yo' see, dey tink dat maybe in de night time somebody come sneakin' up here from Nome or Dawson maybe, and steal de gold what ain't dar."
"Are you ever on watch?"
"Ebery night. Here's de rule. Marse Stapleton he watches till 'bout midnight. Den he 'waken Marse Ingalls. He watch few hours. Den dey kick me on de cocoanut an' ah watches till it am time to git de breakfuss. Yes, sah, dat am de style each night."
"Rufus, are you our friend?" asked Tom bluntly.
"Ah sho' am. Yo' all am po'ful nice young gemmen an' ah hates ter see you in dis yar fixadicament."
"Then you are willing to help us escape?"
"H-e-e-e-e-e-m, dat am a po'ful dangerous obfustertakin'."
"We know it, but we count on your cleverness and good will."
Rufus grinned.
"Oh, ah's a clebber niggah, all right, ah is."
"We know it. That's why we determined to throw ourselves on your good nature and friendliness."
"Ye-e-e-ah! Ah spec's ah kin help you all, too. But see hyah, 'twont no ways do fer yo' and me ter seem too chummy. Ef we do, dey spec's right off dat dar am a pusson ob cullah in de woodpile. Ah'll act ugly toward you and spress de idee dat yo am no bettah dan po' low-down white trash.Den dey neber tink what big idee circumambulate our mind."
"That's a good plan," cried Tom heartily to their dusky ally. "Why not put it into execution to-night? My brother and I are in a hurry to get back to our friends. Two of them are sick."
"Ah dat so? Well, what you alls gib me if ah helps yo' in dis breakin' ob de jail?"
"I have ten dollars in my pocket. How much have you, Jack?"
"I have five-fifty," responded Jack.
"Golly gumption! Das mo' real money dan ah've seen fo' many a moon," grinned the negro. "Dey all de time talk ob millions an' plum fo'git ter pay me any wages."
"Well, that fifteen-fifty is yours if you aid us, Rufus. Will you do it?"
"Will ah do it? Kin a duck swim?" inquired Rufus with scorn. "Now when ah'm on duty as sentinel to-night," went on the negro, delighted to have an opportunity to show his skill in strategy,"yo' alls jes' sneak up behin' me and knock mah head in."
"Hold on! Not quite as bad as that!" exclaimed Jack.
"Well, ah don' mean ter knock all mah head in," modified Rufus, "jes a part ob it. Den yo' tie mah han's, shove yo rifles down mah throat, and leab me dah. Das a fine plan!"
"It certainly is. We'll put it into execution to-night," declared Tom delightedly.
Rufus' eyes shone with excitement.
"An'-an' ah tell you' what ah do," he cried. "Ah persuade dem two crazy loons dat de right ting to do wid yo' am to shoot yo' on de spot; dat'll show 'em dat I ain't got no use fo' you."
"Wait a minute," cried Jack. "Don't do that, they might take you at your word and——"
"Das so—das so. Well, den ah persuade dem dat de right ting ter do am ter bang you ober de head wid a shobel."
"No, that would be just as bad," laughedTom. "I tell you, Rufus, when you come on watch we'll just sneak out, tie and gag you, and then you leave the rest to us."
"Das all right," grinned the negro. "Yo' smart pair ob boys an' kin fix tings all right. In de meantime, ah acts fearful mean to yo' all. Guess ah better be goin' now. Dey might come snoopin' round', and it wouldn't do fer ter catch us in confabulation. No sah!"
He shuffled hastily off and the boys exchanged delighted glances. Just when things looked blackest, it began to appear as if there were a chance, and a good one, too, of their escaping from the grip of the two lunatics.
"Well, it all goes to show that one never knows from what quarter aid is going to come," said Tom as he and Jack fell to on their work. "That black negro, ugly as he is, appears more beautiful to me right now than an angel."
"Hush! here come those two crazy gold diggers back again," interrupted Jack, as footsteps crunched over the gravel above the excavation.
THE GRASP OF CIRCUMSTANCE.
"Hard at work, eh?" asked Stapleton, as he looked over the edge of the hole.
"Yes, we're in a hurry to get to that gold," rejoined Tom cheerfully.
"That's right. That's the spirit to show," exclaimed Ingalls in a way that for him was quite hearty.
"How soon do you think we'll strike it?" asked Jack.
"In a few days sure. You're not getting impatient?"
"No, but when a fellow feels he's right close to a fortune, he can't help being anxious to close his fists on it as quickly as possible," said Tom.
"Well, you might as well knock off now," saidStapleton. "We'll have a bite of lunch and then turn in."
The boys came out of the pit, and you may be sure that they did not display much reluctance in doing so. They followed Stapleton and his partner up to the cave, where Rufus had some hot tea brewed and the remains of the supper to furnish them with a snack. As the boys drank their tea, the negro looked at them scowlingly. His every action showed dislike and hatred of the boys. He played his part to perfection, yet never made the mistake of overacting it.
After their lunch the boys declared that they felt so sleepy that they could slumber like logs till morning. They were shown a place to lay their blankets by Rufus, who grumbled at having to wait on them, to the huge delight of Stapleton and his partner.
"But we must be up early," said Stapleton, "the rising sun must find us out with our picks and shovels."
"Oh, we'll be on the job," declared Tom heartily. "With that gold so near to hand it'll be all we can do to keep from dreaming about it all night."
"Well, you did a hard day's work to-day," observed Ingalls; "if you keep that up we'll have no cause for complaint."
The boys noticed that the sleeping place assigned to them was in the rear of the cavern. The significance of this did not escape them. The men were seemingly no longer suspicious of them, but they were taking no chances. Before they retired, Stapleton and Ingalls took a survey from the door of the cave with their spyglass. While they were doing this, Rufus passed swiftly by the boys and dropped a whispered message.
"Yo' mus' try it to-night when I am in de watch. Ah'll be lookin' for yo'."
As he spoke the two men came back into the cavern and began to dispose their sleeping things. While Stapleton took his place on watch, Ingallsand Rufus laid down and were soon off into slumberland. Strange to say the boys, too, slept although their feelings were wrought up almost to the snapping point. They did not wake till they heard Ingalls arousing Rufus with a kick.
"Get up you lazy, black roustabout. It's time to go on watch."
"Wha's de mattah?" yawned out Rufus sleepily.
"Hush! Don't make so much noise. You'll wake the boys."
"Sho'! who cares fo' dem? Why don' dey go watch same as de res' ob us? Wha fo' dey lowed ter sleep sixty-leben weeks while we alls don' git no sleep at all?"
Rufus fairly roared the words out, so anxious was he that the boys should not fail to wake up, although, had he known it, they were wide awake and trembling with the tension of waiting till the decisive moment arrived.
Rufus grumblingly took up his watch whileIngalls rolled himself in his blankets. Tom rolled over on his side so that he was facing Jack.
"All ready, Jack?"
"Sure. Are you?"
"Yes, but we must wait till they are sound asleep. The racket that nigger made may have awakened Stapleton."
"Well, don't go to sleep again while we are waiting."
"Not likely. I was never more wide awake in my life."
"Same here. I can hardly wait till the moment comes."
Although it was early morning after the brief Alaskan night, still it was almost quite dark in the cave, which made the boys think that it must be overcast outside. However, this was so much the better for their plans, and they lay without stirring till the regular breathing of Ingalls and the steady continued snoring of his partner showed that both men were asleep.
But although the time had now arrived for them to make their escape, there was still an obstacle in their path. The cavern was so dark that it was hard to see where the men lay, and both boys knew that one touch of the foot against those sleeping forms and their plan would be doomed to disaster. In the event of awaking them, both men would be upon the two youths like tigers, and they might expect just as much mercy from the two crazed gold-diggers, who would surely think that the boys were sneaking off to carry their secret to the outside world. Cautiously they arose from their blankets, and recollecting where they had left their rifles they reached out for them, for without these weapons it would be impossible for them to make the long journey back to the Yukon and provide themselves with food.
This done, they began stepping out with the utmost delicacy. They did not dare to light a match, as this would have undoubtedly awakenedthe men who appeared to be restless sleepers. So they had to proceed in the dark. It was ticklish work. One false step and the men would be upon them. They stepped out like cats on ice, raising each foot high in the air as it was advanced.
Tom reached the entrance of the cavern in safety without having aroused either of the sleepers. Jack was not so lucky. His foot encountered Ingalls's body and the man muttered something in his sleep. For one dreadful instant Jack thought that the man was awake. His heart stood still and he fingered his rifle nervously.
But a minute later he knew that it had been a false alarm and speedily thereafter he joined his brother at the cave mouth. Silhouetted against the dark sky was the form of Rufus. Both boys' hearts gave a glad bound at the sight of him.
The negro said nothing, but wiggled his hand in front of his face as though to signify that he was glad to see them. Then beckoning to themmysteriously, he asked the entirely superfluous question:
"Am yo' hyah?"
Equally unnecessarily Tom made his response.
"We are both here, as you can see, Rufus."
"Gollyumption, ain't it as dark as de ten plagues ob Egyup? But dat am a good ting fo' yo' alls. De darker de better till yo' gits clar away."
"That's so. Well, here's your money, Rufus, and thank you. But how about tying you?"
"Gracious, ah plum forgot dat part ob de business! Hyah! Take dis rope and lace me up good an' tight. Don' min' mah feelin's. Ah'm durable."
The negro was trussed up hand and foot by the boys, who then pressed his hand, and with more murmured thanks to him they slipped away into the darkness. They had a general idea of the lay of the land and made off as fast as they could in the direction that Tom judged was thecorrect one. As they went, their hearts were filled with genuine thankfulness toward the black-skinned friend who had helped them out of a bad dilemma.
And now, as we shall not see Rufus or his masters again, we may as well take this opportunity of detailing their future careers.
Following the discovery that the boys had gone, leaving Rufus tied and gagged, the fury of the two men knew no bounds. Had they discovered the boys then, there is no question but they would have killed them. But although they ranged the woods they did not discover any trace of the two lads, and being eager to get back to their crazy task of undermining the mountain, they soon gave up the search.
They were hastened in this by their insane fears that the boys would communicate the secret of their camp to outsiders, and that a horde of gold-seekers would swoop down on Dead Man's Mine and rob them of their so-called rightfulgains. Rufus had acted his part perfectly, and not for an instant did they suspect him. His groans and moans and imprecations upon the heads of the runaways left no room to doubt that he was even more affected by their escape than his masters.
"De scan'lous willians des crep' up behin' me and caught me de worses' wallop ober de ear dat you eber felt," he said. "Den dey knock me down an' tie me up de way yo' fin' me. Which way did dey go? Why, dat 'a way." And Rufus pointed in exactly the contrary direction to that in which the young runaways had gone.
Deeming it a useless task to carry the pursuit any further, the two men, as has been said, resumed their disordered operations on the mine. Day by day their insanity became more and more marked, till finally they hardly gave themselves time to eat or sleep in the belief that the boys would soon be back with a party of men to steal the mine.
They worked all day and finally all night, sleeping a few winks in the mine itself and having Rufus bring them scanty mouthfuls of food. It was a true tragedy of the far north that now began to draw toward a close.
Rufus pleaded with the two men, for whom he really cherished an affection, to listen to reason, but they were too far gone for that. Their every thought now was centered on the gold, which they were certain was close at hand. In the strength of their delirium they actually undermined a great part of the conical hill, a task that would have been thought almost impossible.
Then one morning the end came. Rufus went to the pit to beg the men, who had been working for twenty hours on a stretch, to leave off for a time and get a little rest. He found them lying in the excavation side by side, each with a shovel in his hand, just as he had dropped. Rufus gave them as fitting a burial as he could, and then, as many a man has done before, he uttered a deepcurse against gold, the love of which was the infernal cause of all the trouble. Then making up his few possessions into a bundle, he made his way out to the settlements with his strange story. And so ended two careers which might have been useful and dignified had it not been for the lure of gold that ensnares so many men and breaks so many promising lives. Jim Stapleton and Seth Ingalls were not the first men to yield up their lives at the behest of the demon of gold-seeking, and the most pathetic part of their story is that it is exactly true as related in this volume. The author heard it while in the Yukon some years ago, along with many other tales of the same sort.
As for the boys, they endured many hardships and not a few perils on their way back to theYukon Rover. But in due course, thin, half-famished and footsore they reached the craft. With what a warm welcome they were receivedmay be readily imagined. They found Mr. Dacre quite recovered and Sandy as chipper as ever.
The days that ensued were filled with hunting, fishing and long tramps along the trap-line, till every one of the lads was muscled like an athlete and brown as a berry.
One late August morning the first breath of the northern winter came down upon them. The boys hailed it with delight, for they knew then that the real business of their strange voyage on the Yukon was about to begin. With winter would come the trapping season and the long-awaited silver foxes. The boys looked forward eagerly to the time when they could glide with snowshoes through the frozen woods on their visits to the traps.
But they little knew what the winter held in store for them. It was not to be all sport and jollity. When the iron hand of the frost king closes on the far northland, the time has arrived when men and boys are tried on no common anvilto see of what metal they be. Ahead of the lads lay many strange experiences and perils in the frozen wilds. Those who care to read of their adventurous winter in the Yukon country may do so in the next volume of this series, entitledThe Bungalow Boys "North of Fifty-three."
THE END.