"Come on, now, and remember what I told you," said Claus, getting on his feet. "There they go! All we have to do, now, is to go in there and get the valises. You know where they sat, don't you?"
Casper glanced toward the front end of the car, and saw Julian and Jack step down and hurry toward the dining-room. Claus waited until most of the passengers got off, and then, with a motion to Casper to follow him, he went boldly forward and climbed the steps. He opened the door, and, when Casper went in, he said,
"Now tell me exactly where they sat, so that I can pick up the valises without exciting anybody's suspicions."
"Do you see that red-faced man sitting on the right-hand side?" whispered Casper. "And do you see those valises in the rack directlyin front him? Well, they are the ones you want."
"All right! We will have them out of there in a jiffy."
"I don't like the way that man looks at us," Casper ventured to remark; "perhaps he knows them."
"It don't make any difference to me whether he does or not. If he says anything to us, we will tell him the valises belong to us, and that we have come after them."
Calling a smile to his face, Claus went down the passage-way, looking at the various valises stowed away in the racks. When he arrived opposite the seat where Julian had sat before he left the train, a look of surprise spread over his countenance, and he stepped in and took them down, one after the other.
"These are ours, ain't they?" he asked, turning to Casper.
"Yes—they are the ones."
"I don't see what those boys put them in here for. Now we will take charge of them ourselves."
He passed one valise to Casper, who took it and made his way out of the car, while Claus kept close at his heels.
"Now we want to go somewhere and get out of sight as soon as we can," said Casper, looking around guiltily, and almost expecting a policeman to take him by the collar. "I shall not feel easy until this train goes."
"Well, we don't want to get out of sight just yet," said Claus. "That red-faced man kept his eyes on us, didn't he? Let us see what he will make of it now."
"Why, Claus, you are not going in there?" queried Casper, when his companion led the way toward the waiting-room. "Julian and Jack went in there, and they will be certain to discover us."
"No, they won't. You follow me, and do just as I do."
Casper turned his eyes and looked back at the train. There was the red-faced man, sitting by the car window, closely watching all their movements, and when he saw them enter the waiting-room into which Julian and Jack had gone a few moments before, his suspicions,if he had any, were set at rest, and he settled back in his seat and picked up a newspaper which he had just purchased. Claus kept on to the waiting-room, but he did not stop when he got there. He kept right on through and went out at the other door, and after walking briskly for a few minutes, and turning several corners until he was sure that the depot had been left out of sight, he seated himself on the steps of a deserted house, took off his hat, and wiped his forehead.
"It was not such an awful thing to get those valises, after all," said he. "When that train goes, we will go and get our breakfast."
"But I would like to know what is in those valises first," said Casper. "I tell you, you are fooled. I have felt this valise all over on the outside, and there is nothing in it that feels like a box."
"I don't suppose you could feel anything of that kind in it, because I don't believe the box was put in there," said Claus. "My only hope is that they took the papers out of the box and put them in here; consequently they left the box at home."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Casper, catching up his valise and feeling the outside of it, to see if he could feel anything that seemed like papers that were stowed away on the inside of it; "I never thought of that. Now, how shall we go to work to get the valises open? I haven't a key in my pocket that will fit them."
"I haven't, either; but as soon as we get our breakfast we will go up the road a little distance and cut them open. These gripsacks will never be worth anything to anybody after we get done with them."
Even while they were talking in this way they heard the shriek of the whistle twice, followed by the ringing of the bell, and knew that their train was getting ready to start on again; whereupon Claus got up and said he was as hungry as a wolf, and that he must procure a breakfast somewhere.
"I shall not eat much till I find out what those valises are hiding from us," said Casper. "It would be just dreadful if we should fail, after all the trouble we have been to."
By the time they got back to the depot thetrain was well under way; but Claus went out and looked after it, to satisfy himself that the coast was clear. Then they placed their valises in charge of the clerk at the desk, enjoyed a good wash, and went in and took their seats at the table. Their meal was a better one than they had had served up to them at St. Louis, especially when they were hard up for money; and, after taking their time in eating it, Claus settled the bill, took his valise, and started up the railroad track.
"Have you a cigar?" he asked, before they had gone a great ways. "That is all right. We will go on until we get into that sagebrush, and then we will stop and look into these things. I will take just a hundred thousand dollars for my find."
"I'll bet you will take less than that," said Casper; for, somehow, he could not get over the idea that the box had been sent by express. "There is nothing in them that you want."
It did not take them more than a quarter of an hour to get into the sagebrush; and, after looking all around to make sure thatthere was no one in sight, they stepped down from the track and seated themselves on the bank beside it. Claus did not waste any time in trying his keys upon the valise, but stretched out his legs and put his hand into his pocket, and when he pulled it out again he held a knife in it.
"The shortest way is the best," said he, thrusting the blade into the valise he held in his hand. "Come out here, now, and let us see what you have."
His knife made short work of the valise, but nothing in the way of papers could be found. It was Jack's valise that he had destroyed, and all he found in it was a brush and comb, and half a dozen handkerchiefs.
"I just knew how it would be," said Casper, despairingly. "You will find the same things in here."
He had never seen Claus look so angry and disappointed as he was at that moment. With a spiteful kick of one foot he sent the valise out of sight in the sagebrush, and was about to send the other things to keep it company, when he happened to think of something.
"I guess I'll keep the handkerchiefs and brush and comb for the good they may do me," said he. "Where's your valise?"
Casper handed it over, and in a moment more that valise was a wreck, also. They found things in it similar to those found in Jack's gripsack, with the exception of a book which Julian had purchased to read on his journey, the leaves of which were uncut. Casper took possession of the handkerchiefs and the brush and comb, while Claus slowly rolled up the book and sat with his eyes fastened on the ground. He was mad—Casper could easily see that, and he dared not interrupt his train of thought. Claus sat for some moments communing with his own thoughts, then broke into a whistle and got upon his feet.
"To say that I am disappointed, and angry, too, would not half express my feelings," said he, pulling off his hat with one hand and digging his fingers into his head with the other. "I did not suppose they would send those papers by express, for I know it is something that I would not have done. I would havekept them by me all the while, so that I could see that they were safe. Now, the next thing is to determine upon something else."
"Do you intend to make another effort to get the money?" asked Casper, very much surprised. "Your 'three times and out' did not amount to anything—did it?"
"No, I don't suppose it did," said Claus, who was evidently thinking about something else. "I guess you have done about all you can do, and so you had better go back to St. Louis."
This was nothing more than Casper expected. He had his ten dollars stowed away somewhere about his clothes, together with small sums which he had saved from the amount that Claus had paid him, and so he could pay his way back to St. Louis easily enough; but what should he do when he got there? He shuddered when he thought of it. Here was winter coming on, and unless he should obtain work very soon he would have to go out to where his mother lived, which was all of two hundred and fifty miles from there. And what should he say when he got home?He had gone to St. Louis with big boasts of what he intended to do when he got there, and for him to turn up penniless and friendless at his mother's house was rather more than he had bargained for.
"And what willyoudo?" asked Casper.
"I haven't had time to think the matter over," said Claus, who was rather surprised that his companion took his discharge, or whatever you might call it, so easily, "but I think I shall go on to Denver."
"And I can't be of any use to you there?"
"No, I don't think you can. I may not be back to the city before next spring."
"I wish you would tell me what you are going to do when you get there. You can't get the box; that will be safe in the bank."
"But perhaps I can pass myself off for Mr. Haberstro. I have some of his cards in my pocket."
"But you will only get yourself into trouble if you try that game. There are people out there who know Haberstro."
"Well, that is so," said Claus, looking reflectively at the ground. "I shall have tothink up some way to get around that. At any rate, you cannot be of any further use to me, and so you had better start by the next train."
"Well, you had better give me some money before you turn me off in this way," said Casper. "How am I going to get back to the city without money?"
"Where is that ten dollars you got out of the telegraph office when your time was up?" asked Claus, who did not like it whenever the subject of giving some of his hard earnings was brought up before him. "You have not spent all of that, I know."
"Yes, I have. I have just a quarter, and there it is," said Casper, pulling out of his pocket the coin in question.
"I wish to goodness I had never seen you!" said Claus, shoving his hand into the pocket in which he kept his money. Casper heard the jingling of some silver pieces, and thought that perhaps his companion might be tempted to give him a few dollars. That would be better than nothing, and he would have some money left when he reached St. Louis. "If Ihad never seen you, I would have more dollars left in my pocket than I have now," said Claus, bringing out a handful of small change.
Casper said nothing in reply. He wanted to see how much Claus was going to give him; and, once he had the money in his hand, he could talk to him as he pleased.
"There are five dollars that I will give you, and you need not ask me for any more," said Claus, counting out the money; "for, if you do, you won't get it."
"I don't know whether five dollars will pay my fare to St. Louis or not," said Casper. "Give me six."
"No, sir; that's all I have to spare. It will take you so close to the city that you can easily walk in," said Claus, turning on his heel and starting toward the town they had just left. "You can walk twenty-five miles very easily."
It was right on the point of Casper's tongue to "open out" on Claus, and give him as good as he sent. Wouldn't he have had more dollars inhispocket if he had nevermet the man who was anxious at all times to play a game of billiards or pool with him, especially on pay-day, when Casper was known to have money in his pocket? But, on thinking the matter over, he decided that he would say nothing about it. Claus was a pretty big man, and there was no knowing what he would do if the boy made him angrier than he was now.
"He is going to be fooled again," said Casper, as he fell in behind Claus, who walked toward the town as if he were in an awful hurry to get there. "What good will it do him to go on to Denver? He can't get the box there, neither can he cheat Julian out of his money. Julian will find any amount of friends there—I never heard of a boy with a hundred thousand dollars in his pocket who could not find somebody to stand by him—and they will tell him what to do. Oh! why did I make so great a mistake! I ought to have started for Denver the moment I got my hands on that box. Well, I got five dollars out of Claus, anyhow."
Casper sauntered along behind Claus, whowas walking rapidly, and when he reached the depot he looked all around for his companion, but failed to see him. Claus had gone off somewhere, and Casper was there alone.
"Well, boys," said Mr. Fay, when they had reached the street and were walking toward their hotel, "I have somehow taken a great interest in you, and I am anxious to see you come out all right. It is the most remarkable thing I ever heard of. You did not know what was in that box when you bought it, did you?"
"No, sir," replied Julian; "it was all sealed up. The auctioneer said something about a miner having hidden the secret of a gold-mine in it, and I bought it for thirty cents."
"The auctioneer happened to hit the matter right on the head. I will go with you in search of a cheaper boarding-house than the one at which you are now stopping, and you had better remain there until Mr. Gibson hears from those people in St. Louis. Thatwill be two weeks, probably. If, at any time, you grow weary of walking about our city, looking at what little there is worth seeing, come down to the office, and we'll sit there and swap a few lies."
Mr. Fay continued to talk in this way while they were walking along the streets, meanwhile turning several corners, and the longer he talked the more the boys saw the traits of his Western character sticking out all over him. He talked like a gentleman, and then spoiled it all by remarking that they would "swap a few lies" when they came around to his office. He had probably been out West so long that he had become accustomed to Western ways of conversation.
At length Mr. Fay turned off from the sidewalk, ascended the steps that led to the door of a house, saying, as he did so, "Now we will go in here and see what we can do," and rang the door-bell. It was a very different-looking house from the one they had been in the habit of living in when in St. Louis. There were no broken-down doors to be opened before they went in, nor any rickety steps tobe climbed, but everything was neat and trim, and kept in perfect order. A motherly-looking old lady answered Mr. Fay's pull at the bell.
"Ah! good-morning, Mrs. Rutherford," was the way in which Mr. Fay greeted her. "Let me introduce Julian Gray and John Sheldon. They are looking around for a cheap boarding-house,—not too cheap, mind you,—and I have called to see if you have any place in which to hang them up for the night."
Mrs. Rutherford was glad to meet Julian and Jack, invited them into the parlor, and asked them if they wanted a room together. The boys replied that they did, and she conducted them upstairs, to show them a room that was vacant. They were gone not more than five minutes, and when they came downstairs again Mrs. Rutherford was putting some bills away in her pocket-book, and the boys acted as though they were well satisfied.
"Well, you have found a place, have you?" said Mr. Fay. "Have you jotted down the street and number?"
No, the boys had not thought of that, and Julian quickly pulled his note-book from his pocket.
"Your city is somewhat larger than we expected to find it," began Julian.
"You don't find many wigwams around here now," answered Mr. Fay. "We keep spreading out all the time. Can you boys find the way back to your hotel?"
Julian and Jack thought they could find it if they were given time enough, but Mr. Fay thought he had better go with them. It was right on the road to his office, and he walked off so rapidly that his young companions were obliged to increase their speed in order to keep up with him. Before they had gone a great way, Julian, who was anxious to learn all he could about their surroundings, asked how far it was to the mountains behind them. Mr. Fay had evidently answered such questions before, for all he said in reply was,
"How far do you think it is?"
"I think two miles would cover the distance," he answered, for he was determined he would guess enough while he was about it.
"How far doyousay it is, John?" said Mr. Fay, turning to Jack.
"I would rather be excused from expressing an opinion, but I think we could walk out there in two hours."
"And come back the same day?"
"Why, yes; certainly."
"Now, let me tell you," said Mr. Fay: "If you have made up your minds to go out to the mountains, hire a good, fast walking-horse, and go out one day and come back the next."
"Is it as far as that?" exclaimed the boys, looking at each other with amazement.
"It is all of twelve miles. You must take into consideration that the air is very rare up here, and that things appear nearer than they are. You are 5135 feet above the level of the sea."
"My goodness! I didn't think we were so far out of the world!"
"We have awfully uncertain weather here," continued Mr. Fay, "but still we regard our climate as healthy. Our thermometer sometimes changes as much as forty degrees intwenty-four hours. Since Professor Loomis took charge of the matter, the mercury has changed forty-five times in one day. What sort of a place did you expect to find Denver, anyway?"
"Well, I did not know what sort of a place it was," said Julian. "We thought we should find more wigwams here than houses, and you can't imagine how surprised we were when we found ourselves in a depot full of people."
"Denver used to be full of wigwams, but it is not so now. Until the year 1858 the Indians lived in peace; but in that year gold was discovered by W. G. Russell, a Georgian, on the banks of the river Platte, which is but a little way from here, and that settled the business of the Indians in a hurry. Denver, Black Hawk, Golden City, and many other cities that I can't think of now, were founded in 1859, and a host of immigrants appeared. Since that time we have been spreading out, as I told you, until we have a pretty good-sized city."
"It shows what Western men can do when they once set about it," said Jack. "Now,answer another question while you are about it, if you please. If the mercury changes forty degrees in twenty-four hours, working in the mines must be dangerous business."
"That depends upon where you are working," said Mr. Fay. "If you are at work in a placer-mine, you stand a good chance of leaving your bones up there for somebody to bring home; but if you are working under the ground, it does not make any difference. Are you thinking of going out to Dutch Flat to try your hand at it? I don't know where that is, but you can find plenty of men here who can tell you."
"I have not said anything to Julian about it, but I think that would be one of the best things we could do. You see, we are not settled in that property yet."
"I see," said Mr. Fay. "Gibson may get word from those fellows in St. Louis that you are impostors, and that you stole that box instead of buying it at a sale of 'old horse.' That would be rough on you."
The boys did not know how to take this remark. They looked at Mr. Fay, but he waswalking along as usual, with his hands in his pockets, bowing right and left to the many persons he met on the streets, and did not seem to think anything of it. Perhaps it was his ordinary style of talking.
"I am not at all afraid of that," remarked Jack. "If he finds us impostors, we are willing to go to jail."
Mr. Fay threw back his head and laughed heartily.
"I have no idea of anything of the kind," said he, as soon as he could speak. "I was just wondering what you would think of it. But what were you going to say?"
"This property is not settled on us yet," replied Jack, "and we may want something to keep us in grub while we are here. We have a perfect right to work that mine, have we not?"
"If you can find it—yes. Go up there, and if nobody else is working it, pitch in and take fifty thousand dollars more out of it."
"And what will we do if somebody else is working it?"
"You had better give up to them, unlessyou think you are strong enough to get the better of them. But you need not worry about that. The mine is haunted, and you won't catch any of the miners going around where ghosts are."
"Who do you suppose are haunting it?" asked Julian. "That letter says the writer worked the mine alone, and took lots of money out of it, and never saw a thing to frighten him."
"Perhaps somebody has been murdered up there; I don't know. You won't see anything until you get down in the mine, and then you want to look out. I heard of a mine up at Gold Cove that was haunted in that way. There were a dozen miners tried it, and each one came away without getting anything, although the gold was lying on top of the ground. As often as a miner went below (it was about thirty feet down to the bottom), he was sure to see somebody at work there before him. He was picking with a tool at the bottom of the shaft in order to loosen it up, accompanying every blow he made with a sonorous 'whiz!' which showed that he was anIrishman. Some of the miners retreated to their bucket and signaled to their helper to pull them up, and you couldn't hire them to go into the mine again. Others, with a little more bravery than they had, went up to put their hands on the man, but as fast as they advanced he retreated; and when they got to the end of the shaft, the phantom miner was still ahead, and picking away as fast as ever."
"Then the mine is deserted?"
"Yes, and has been for years. It is one of the richest mines around here, too."
"Why, I should think somebody would shoot him," said Jack.
"Shoot him! He has been shot at more times than anybody could count; but he pays no attention to it. He is a ghost, and he knows you can't hurt him. I never saw it, and, what is more, I don't want to; but I would not go down into that mine for all the gold there is in the hills."
"Did anybody think a murder had been committed somewhere around there?" said Julian.
"I never heard that there was."
"Well, I just wish our mine would be haunted with something like that," said Jack. "I would find out what he was, and what business he had there, or I would know the reason why."
"Well, you may have a chance to try it. Does this look like your hotel? Now I will bid you good-bye, and I will see you again to-morrow, if you come around."
Mr. Fay departed, taking with him the hearty thanks of the boys for all his kindness and courtesy, and then they slowly ascended the steps to the office. They had secured one thing by his attentions to them—a boarding-house at which the money they had in their pockets would keep them safely for a month, if it took Mr. Gibson that long to hear from St. Louis; but, on the whole, Jack wished Mr. Fay had not used his Western phraseology so freely.
"Does he want us to work that mine or not?" asked Jack.
"I don't know. He talked pretty readily, did he not?"
"I wonder if that is the way all Westernerstalk? Did he scare you out of going up there to that mine?"
"No, sir," replied Julian, emphatically. "Do you know that I rather like that man? He reminds me of Mr. Wiggins, and talks exactly like him."
"What do you suppose it was that those fellows saw in that mine?"
"I give it up. Some of these Western men are good shots with a revolver, and it seems to me they might have struck the fellow if they had had a fair chance at him."
"But he was a ghost, you know."
"Oh, get out! If they saw him there, you can bet that therewassomebody there. Some of the miners had their minds all made up to see something, and of course they saw it."
"But how do you account for that 'whiz!' that he uttered every time he struck with his pick?"
"They never heard any 'whiz!' coming from that man; they only imagined it."
"Do you think their ears could be deceived, as well as their eyes?"
"Jack, I am surprised at you. You are bigenough and strong enough to whip any ghost that I ever saw, and yet you are afraid to go down in that mine!"
"Wait until we find it, and then I'll show you whether I am afraid or not. Now, if you will go on and pay our bill and have our trunk brought down, I'll go and get a carriage."
In five minutes this was done, and the boys were soon on their way to their boarding-house.
For a week after Julian and Jack went to their new boarding-house they had much to occupy their attention—so much, indeed, they did not think of going down to the telegraph office and "swapping a few lies" with the chief operator. Their new home charmed them in every particular. Mr. Fay had not forgotten thathehad been a boy in the not so very long ago, and the boarding-house he had chosen for them was such as he would have chosen for himself. The boarders were young men who, like themselves, had come out West to seek their fortunes, and they were all employed in various avocations in the city. Jack noticed one thing, and that was they did not run around of evenings to any extent; or, if they did, they went down to the library, where they spent their time in reading.
"Do you know that that is something that strikes me," said Jack one night when they went upstairs to their room. "We ought to join the Young Men's Christian Association."
"Have you forgotten our mine?" asked Julian.
"No, I have not; but I don't believe in going up there in winter. A thermometer that can change so many times within twenty-four hours is something that I want to keep clear of."
"Well, where is the money to come from?"
"Humph!" said Jack, who had not thought of that before; "that's so. Where is it?"
The first thing the boys thought of, when they got up the next morning, was to take a trip to the mountains. Jack was in favor of walking. It was only twelve miles, and the amount they would have to pay out for a horse would keep one of them a week at their boarding-house. But Julian could not see it in that light.
"I tell you, you have never walked twenty-four miles in a day," remarked the latter. "I have done it many a time, but I am notgoing to do it now, when there is no need of it."
"You act as though you had that money in your hands already," retorted Jack. "Now, I'll tell you what's a fact: I am going to have the same trouble with you that I had in St. Louis. There won't be any 'old horse' for you to spend your money on, but you will squander it in some other way."
"You will see," said Julian, with a laugh. "Come on, now; I am going to get a saddle-horse—one that can take me out there in an hour."
Jack reluctantly yielded to his companion, who made his way toward a livery-stable which he had seen when they came to their boarding-house. There they engaged a couple of saddle-horses which seemed to know what they were expected to do, for when allowed the rein they put off toward the mountains, and went along at a brisk pace. Jack could not get over grumbling about hiring horses to do what they could do themselves, but Julian did not pay the least attention to it. When they had gone a long distance on the roadthey met a teamster, and of him Jack inquired how many miles they had yet to travel to reach their destination.
"Them mountains?" asked the man, facing about in his seat. "They are a matter of six miles from here."
"If I had a good start for a run I believe I could jump that far," said Jack.
"Yes, it does look that way," said the man; "but it would be a mighty lengthy jump for you. I guess you are a tenderfoot—ain't you?"
"I never was so far West as this in my life."
The man had evidently heard all that he wanted to hear, for he started his team, smiling and nodding his head as if to say that Jack would learn more about distances on the prairie before he had been there long.
The distance was fully as great as the boys expected to find it; and, when they drew up in front of a little hotel in the foothills, the mountains seemed to be as far off as ever. The proprietor came to the door, bid them good-morning in his cheery way, and askedif there was anything that he could do for them.
"How far off are those peaks from here?" questioned Jack.
"Twenty miles," said the man. "You are not going out there to-day, are you?"
"Why, the folks in Denver told us that the mountains were twelve miles away," said Jack, greatly surprised.
"Well, you are twelve miles from Denver now. These little hills here are the beginning of the mountains."
"I guess you may feed our horses and give us some dinner, and then we will go back," said Julian. "Well, Jack, we've seen the mountains."
"Yes, and laid out six dollars for the horses besides," replied Jack, in disgust. "The next time you want anything to carry you, we will go on foot."
The man laughed heartily as he took charge of their horses, and the boys went into the hotel, where they found a fire on the hearth, and were glad to draw up close to it.
"I declare, I did not know it was so cold,"said Julian. "I suppose it is warm enough in St. Louis. How high is that city above the sea-level?"
"I don't know," answered Jack, who could not get over the feeling that those people in Denver had played too much on his credulity. "Twenty miles! I guess we won't go up to the top of those mountains, yet a while, and look for California. I wish those horses were back in the stable where they belong."
"We will have them back there in three hours," answered Julian, "and if you don't want me to hire any more horses, I won't do it."
The boys got back to Denver without any mishap, and after that they were eager to see the city. Jack did not have anything to grumble about during the week that followed, for they went on foot, and there were no horses hired. Finally, after viewing all the fine buildings that were to be seen, they thought of the telegraph operator, and decided to take him in the next day; so on Monday they presented themselves at his office. Mr. Fay was there; and, unlike Mr.Wiggins, he did not seem to have much to do, for he was sitting in an easy-chair, with his feet perched upon the desk in front of him, playing with a paper-cutter. The boy who came forward to attend to their wants seemed to have made up his mind that Mr. Fay was the man they wanted to see, and so he conducted them into his private office.
"Halloo! boys," he cried, taking down his feet and pushing chairs toward them; "you are here yet, are you? Have you been out to look at your gold-mine?"
"No, sir," replied Julian; "we could hardly go out there and come back in a week—could we?"
"No, I don't believe you could. I have been thinking about you," continued Mr. Fay, depositing his feet on the desk once more, "and if you know when you are well off you won't go out there this fall. I was talking with a man who has come in from Dutch Flat, and he says it is getting most too cold up there to suit him. He has made a heap of money, and has come here to spend it. I suppose that is what you will be doing whenyou get to work out there—make all you want in summer, and come here in winter and spend it."
"No, sir," asserted Julian, emphatically; "we have worked hard for what little money we have, and we know how to take care of it. I thought it would not make any difference to us how cold it was if we were working under the ground; I thought you said something like that."
"Certainly, I said so," affirmed Mr. Fay; "but you will have to take provisions with you to last you six months. If you don't, you will get snowed up in the mountains; the drifts will get so deep that you can't get through them."
"I did not think of that," said Julian.
"Well, you had better think of it, for if you get up there, and get blocked by drifts, my goodness!—you will starve to death!"
"Did you say anything to the man about our claim up there?"
"No, I did not, for I did not know where it was located. I will tell you what you can do, though. He is going back in the spring,and he can assist you in getting everything you need."
"We are very much obliged to you for saying that," responded Jack, who felt that a big load had been removed from his and Julian's shoulders.
"I am only speaking of what I know of the man," remarked Mr. Fay. "Miners are always ready to help one another, and I know he will do that much for you. I will tell you where you can see him. Do you know where Salisbury's hotel is?"
The boys replied that they did not. They had been all over the city, but did not remember having seen any sign of that hostelry.
"Well, I will go with you," said Mr. Fay "Come around about two o'clock and we'll start. By the way, that lawyer has got back."
"What lawyer, and where has he been?"
"I mean Gibson—the lawyer that you employed to do your business for you. He has been to St. Louis."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Jack. "He has found out by this time more than we could tell him."
"I saw him last night just as he got off the train, and he desired me to tell you, if I happened to see you before he did, that he would be glad to see you around at his office as soon as you could get there," said Mr. Fay. "So you can run down there as soon as you please. You know where he hangs out—don't you?"
Yes, the boys were certain they could find his office without any help, and arose and put on their caps. They told Mr. Fay they would be sure to come around at two o'clock, to go with him to call upon the miner who had recently come from Dutch Flat, bade him good-bye, and left the office.
"What do you think of the situation now?" asked Julian, as they hurried along toward the place where the lawyer "hung out." "Are you still sorry that I bid on that 'old horse?'"
"I only hope there will be no hitch in the business," said Jack. "If he should ask us some questions that we could not answer—then what?"
"We will tell him the truth," said Julian. "He can't ask us any questions that we can'tanswer. Claus and Casper could go in on telling lies, but that way would not suit us."
As the boys had taken particular note of the location of Mr. Gibson's office, they went there as straight as though they had been in Denver all their lives, ran up the stairs to the first floor, and opened the lawyer's door. Mr. Gibson was there, as well as two men whom he was advising on some law-point they had brought to him to clear up. When the boys came in he stopped what he was saying, jumped up, and extended a hand to each of them.
"I was coming around in search of you fellows as soon as I got through with these men," said he. "How have you boys been, out here, so far away from home? Please excuse me for fifteen minutes or so."
The boys took the chairs he offered them, and for a few minutes kept track of what he was saying; but that did not last long. It was about a fence that a neighbor of the two men had built, but which their cattle had broken down, and they were anxious to get out of a lawsuit for the field of wheat their cattle hadruined. They heard the lawyer advise them, honestly, that they must either compromise the matter or get into a lawsuit, in which case they would have to pay full damages; and while he was talking to them he proved that he was a man who could do two things at once. He opened a drawer and took out two photographs, which he compared with the boys, one after the other. It did not take him long to decide upon this business, and then he devoted himself to the question of fences again.
"It is as plain as daylight to me," said he, as he arose to his feet. "Your cattle broke the fence down, went in, and ate up the man's wheat. It was a good, strong, staked-and-ridered fence, too. There are only two ways out of it: Yon can either settle the matter with him, or you can go to law; and if you do that, you will get beaten."
One of the men then asked him how much he charged for his advice, and when he said "Five dollars," the boys cast anxious glances at each other. If he charged that way for advising a man to keep out of law, what price would he demand for taking care of one hundredthousand dollars? Mr. Gibson showed them to the door, bowed them out, and then turned to the boys.
"I ought to have charged that man ten dollars," he declared, with an air of disgust. "He is always in a row; he never comes here to seek advice but that he wants to beat somebody. Do you recognize these pictures?"
"Of course I do," replied Julian. "This is a photograph of me, and that is my signature on the back; the other one is Jack's."
"I have been to St. Louis since you were here," Mr. Gibson went on. "I called upon the men whose addresses you gave me, and found out all about you. I tried my best to find Mr. Haberstro, but could not do it, and so I have concluded that the money is yours."
"Everything?" exclaimed Julian. "The gold-mine and all?"
"Everything belongs to you," answered Mr. Gibson; and one would have thought, from the way in which he announced the fact, that somebody had left the fortune all to Julian. "Of course, if Mr. Haberstro ever turns up you will have to surrender themoney; but I don't take any stock in his turning up. Julian, you now have very nearly twenty thousand dollars coming to you."
"But Jack must have half," said Julian, earnestly. "He has stuck to me like a good fellow, and I don't know what I should have done without him."
"Well, then, that makes you worth ten thousand dollars apiece."
Julian drew a long breath and looked at Jack. The latter leaned his elbows on his knees, whirled his cap in his hand, and looked at the floor.
"You fellows look surprised," said Mr. Gibson, running his eyes from one to the other of the boys. "It seems to me, if a man told me I had that amount of money coming to me, and that I had ten thousand dollars where I could draw on it at my leisure, this room would not hold me; I should want the whole city to splurge in."
The boys made no reply. Jack drew his hand once or twice across his forehead, as if to brush away some wrinkles, while Julian got up and walked to the window.
"You did not expect to get it—did you?" continued Mr. Gibson.
"No, sir, we did not," replied Julian; "but we hoped to get it. We tried our level best to find Mr. Haberstro, following the advice of Mr. Wiggins in everything he told us to do; but he was out of our reach."
"He is dead, probably," said Mr. Gibson. "I know just what you tried to do, and all about it. Of course there will be some law to go through with before you can step into the property. Do you wish me to take charge of it for you?"
"Oh, Mr. Gibson, we really wish you would. We know nothing about law, and consequently we should not know how to act."
"And do you wish me to take charge of the rental of your blocks of buildings?"
"Yes, sir; go on just as you did before, and when we want money we will come to you."
"Well, that is a different thing altogether," said Mr. Gibson, looking down at the floor. "The twenty thousand dollars that I told you of is now in the bank, subject to my order. I guess I had better go up there with you and have it changed. You can then get money whenever you want it. By the way, Julian, Mr. Wiggins sent his kindest regards to you; and, furthermore, he gave me a letter which he wished me to hand to you. I've got one for you, Jack, from your boss; what do you call him?"
"Master mechanic," replied Jack.
Mr. Gibson opened his desk and took out two letters, which he gave to the boys. The sight of Mr. Wiggins's handwriting on the envelope was almost too much for Julian, for he put the letter into his pocket and walked to the window again.
"There is some good advice in those letters, and I want you boys to follow it out implicitly," said the lawyer. "You will always find me here, ready to tell you what to do in case you get into trouble. You must come to me or to Mr. Fay every time you get into a box. But, first and foremost, don't have anything to do with strangers. There are some of them who are bound to hear of your good fortune, and will take every means in their power to get hold of it. Don't sign any papers unless you bring them to me."
"We have already had a little experience in that line," said Julian, with a smile. "Claus came up to us and tried to pass himself off for Mr. Haberstro, and he is the one who stole our valises on our way here; but he didn't make anything by it."
"Yes—I heard all about this man Claus, and about that friend of yours, Casper Nevins. You know enough to steer clear of such fellows in future. Now, if you are all through, we'll go up to the bank."
The boys followed Mr. Gibson out of the office, along the street, turning three or four corners, until they reached the bank. He did not have any business to do with the man who stood behind the desk counting out the money, but he simply asked him,
"Is E. A. in?"
"Yes, sir; he is in his private office," replied the cashier.
The boys did not know who E. A. was, but they found out a moment later, for the lawyer led them into the presence of the president of the bank. He was gray-headed and wore a pair of gold spectacles, but he stopped his work and shook Mr. Gibson warmly by the hand. He looked curiously at the boys, but when the lawyer began his story, talking very rapidly, for there was a card hung up over his desk which said on it, "This is my busy day," he laid down his penand glanced at Julian and Jack with some interest.
"And you want the twenty thousand dollars changed, so that it will be subject to their order?" said he.
"Yes, sir, that is my errand up here."
The president got upon his feet and walked into the room where the cashier was. When he went, the boys had not more than ten dollars in their pockets that they could call their own; when he came back, they had a small fortune coming to them.
"It is all right," said he. "And which of you boys was it who bid on the 'old horse?'" he continued, extending a hand to each of them. "You are the one? Well, my son, remember that there is an end to your money somewhere, and if you go to work and spend it all without waiting for some more to come in, the end of it is not far off. I wish you good luck."
The boys retraced their steps to the cashier's desk, and the transfer of the property from Mr. Gibson's order to their own was easily completed. Mr. Gibson signed a check, theboys attached their names to a big book which was thrust out at them, and then the cashier wanted to know if they needed any money.
"We would like about one hundred dollars apiece," said Julian.
"Very well; make out a check for it and sign your names to it, and you can get it all right. You will find the checks there on that desk."
The boys accordingly made out their checks for the money, and Mr. Gibson stood watching them, smiling to himself when he saw how the boys' hands trembled, and how anxious they were to have everything correct. The money was paid on the checks, and Julian and Jack put it into their pockets.
"You got it, didn't you?" said the lawyer.
"Yes, sir; thanks to you, we have got it," said Julian. "Mr. Gibson, I can't begin to tell you how much we thank you——"
"Oh, that is all right," said the lawyer, opening the door of the bank; "only, don't get into a fuss and lose it all."
"When we came here," continued Julian,"we had no money at all; now see how different it is! I assure you that we are not going to get into any fuss. The money is safe where it is."
"Well, let it stay there. I am pretty busy this morning, so I beg that you will excuse me. Good-bye."
The lawyer hurried away, and Julian stood a little on one side of the door of the bank, one hand thrust into his pocket where he had placed the bills, and his eyes fastened upon Mr. Gibson as long as he remained in sight.
"Say, Jack," said he, suddenly; "I don't believe Mr. Gibson had any right to give us this money."
"He hadn't?" exclaimed Jack. "Why, it was his."
"No, it was not; it belongs to that Haberstro estate. It seems to me he ought to have got an order from the court before giving any of the money up to us."
"Perhaps he has an order," said Jack.
"Then why did he not say something about it? I would like to know when the court sits. If the Judge finds any blundering inthe business, why, then we are up a stump. What will we do if this man Haberstro comes up, all on a sudden, and tells us he wants this hundred dollars?"
"Whew!" said Jack; "I did not think of that."
"But Mr. Gibson probably knew what the decision of the court was going to be or he would not have done this," added Julian, after a moment's pause. "I guess we are all right, but I shall feel better when we have all that property in our hands."
Julian wished now, when it was too late, that he had not spoken to Jack about this. During the dinner hour he was unusually silent and thoughtful, and the landlady's questioning could not get a word out of him. He would arouse up long enough to reply, and then he would fall to thinking again.
"I will never tell you another piece of news as long as I live," said Julian, as they went up to their room to get ready to accompany Mr. Fay to call on the miner. "You always have enough to say at dinner, but to-day you were as solemn as an owl."
"I could not help it," said Jack. "If that man who owns this property turns up here, I tell you we shall be in a fix. We shall spend this before the winter is over, and how are we to get a hundred dollars to pay him? I'll speak to Mr. Gibson about that the next time I see him."
"I believe that would be a good plan," said Julian, after thinking the matter over. "I'll bet you that he has some good reason for it."
In due time the boys arrived at Mr. Fay's office, and found him ready to accompany them. All he said was that he was going out for half an hour, and if anybody came to see him he was to be told that he would soon be back; and then he set off, with his long strides, to lead the way to Salisbury's hotel. The boys found it as much as they could do to keep up with him.
"I guess you have been a messenger-boy in your day," said Julian.
"I was a messenger-boy for six years," replied Mr. Fay. "Of course I did not want to hold that position all my life, so I learned telegraphy at odd times, and got my promotionas fast as I was qualified for it, until at last I got where you see me now. That's the way that young men ought to do—look out for promotion."
"We received good news down there at Mr. Gibson's office," continued Julian.
"I knew you would. Have you the property all in your hands?"
"No; there is some law-business to go through with, first. We told Mr. Gibson to go ahead with it, as he did before."
"That was the best thing that you ever did," said Mr. Fay, earnestly. "Gibson is an honest man, even if he is a lawyer, and you will get every cent that is coming to you. Now, then, here we are. You will find this rather a different hotel from the one you first stopped at when you came here, but the old fellow makes lots of money out of the miners. There is nobody stays here except those who have shovelled dirt."
Mr. Fay opened the door as he spoke, and the boys speedily found themselves in the living-room of the hotel. Before they had time to look around them the chief telegraphoperator walked up and laid his hand upon the shoulder of a man who sat with his back to him.
"You are here yet, are you, Banta?" said he.
"Yes," replied the miner, looking up to see who it was that accosted him. "I am on hand, like a bogus coin made out of iron pyrites; you can't get rid of me."
"I have brought some boys with me who would like to know something about the mines at which you are working," said Mr. Fay; and he proceeded to introduce Julian and Jack.
Banta speedily proved that he was a gentleman, for he straightway got upon his feet to shake hands with the boys.
"All right," said the miner; "if anybody can tell them about Dutch Flat, I am the man."
"They are going to stay here this winter, and go out with you next spring," Mr. Fay went on.
"All right," said the miner, again; "I will put them where they can dig gold so fast thatyou won't see anything but gold coming out of the pit."
"But they have a gold-mine up there already."
"They have? Where is it located?"
Mr. Fay could not answer this question, so he stood aside and waited for Julian to tell him the whereabouts of the mine. The boy began by asking him,
"Do you know the mine that Winkleman used to work when he was here?"
Mr. Banta started, and looked at Julian to see if he was in dead earnest. The boy gazed fixedly at him, and the miner finally settled back in his chair and pulled himself down until his neck rested on the back of it.
"Of course I know that mine," said he. "You don't think of working there, do you?"
"We thought some of trying it," replied Julian.
"Pete, what do you think of that?" asked Mr. Banta, pushing his hand against the shoulder of the man who sat nearest him, with his eyes closed, as if he were fast asleep."Here are two boys going up to Dutch Flat next spring to work the Winkleman mine."
"Well," replied Pete, without lifting his head, "I am glad I am not going up there."
"Are the ghosts so awful thick up there?" asked Julian, who felt his courage oozing out at the ends of his fingers.
"You know something about it—don't you? The ghosts are so thick up there that you can't go down in the mine to shovel a bucketful of dirt without scaring some of them up."
"Well, you will have to excuse me," said Mr. Fay. "I should like to see what those ghosts are, but my work calls me. You will take charge of the boys next spring, will you, Mr. Banta?"
"Sure I will; but they are plumb dunces if they try to work that mine. I will go with them as far as I can, and the balance of the way they will have to depend on themselves."
Mr. Fay said he believed they could do that, opened the door and went out, and Julian and Jack were left alone.
"Sit down," said Banta, pushing chairs toward the two boys with his foot; "I want to talk to you about that mine. What loon has been so foolish as to grub-stake you?"
"Grub-stake us?" repeated Julian, for the words were quite new to him.
"Yes; he does not expect to get his money back again very soon. I mean the fellow who has furnished you with grub and tools, and such things, to work the mine with."
"We never heard that before; we did not know there was anybody whocouldgrub-stake us."
"Say, Pete, what do you think of that?" said Banta, once more pushing the man who sat nearest him. "Here are a couple of tenderfeet, come away out West from—where did you come from?"
"From St. Louis; this is as far West as we have ever been."
"Here are a couple of tenderfeet from St. Louis who didn't know that they could get anybody to grub-stake them," continued Banta. "What do you think of that?"
Pete, who had by this time got his wits about him, straightened up, pushed his hat on the back of his head, and regarded the boys with some curiosity. Julian and Jack looked at him, too, and concluded that he and Banta were partners in working a mine. He was roughly dressed, but there was a good-natured look about him that made the boys take to him at once. There were other men, dressed as miners, in the room, and they all seemed to be interested in the conversation.
"Then I reckon I shall have to tell you about this grub-staking business," said Banta, squaring around in his chair so as to face the boys. "You are going to lay in a supply of things yourselves, I suppose?"
"Yes, we are; and we shall have to depend on you to tell us what to get."
"Well, there is plenty of time between thisand spring, and we will have time to talk that over afterward. Now, about this grub-staking business. There are lots of fellows who come out here who haven't got the money to enable them to go prospecting, and what do they do but hunt up some fellow who is willing to buck against a hole in the ground, and get their provisions and tools of him. He gets half of what they make. The men stay out there until they have eaten up all their provisions and then come in; and if they have had good luck, so much the better. But if they have wasted their time in looking for gold where there wasn't any to be found, why, so much the worse; that man is just so much out of pocket.
"Well, along in '90 Pete and me struck this very town, and we flew so light that we couldn't hardly stay on the ground. We didn't have enough to buy our next meal with; but we struck a gang whom we knew, and headed along with them for the gold country. Of course we had nothing, but we managed to strike a grub-stake and went prospecting up there behind Dutch Flat.We lit into that rock and dirt, working like beavers, but the sign didn't come right. It looked well enough at the start, but it did not pan out much. We stuck to it for nearly three months, and then concluded that we had better go down and get another grub-stake and strike in somewhere else. So I stayed up there alone, and Pete went down and brought up the man that employed us. He looked at the hole, liked the looks of it, and wanted us to go farther; but Pete and I couldn't see it in that light. One word brought on another, and he offered us three hundred dollars for the hole."
"For the hole!" exclaimed Julian. "And there was not a sign of gold about it?"
"Now, hold on till I tell you," returned Banta. "There was a little sign of gold about it, but there was not enough to pay Pete and me for digging. We snapped him up quicker'n a flash, and what does that man do? He went down to Dutch Flat, brought up his tools, and set in to working the hole, and before he had gone two feet farther he struck the richest vein you ever clapped youreyes on. He took sixty thousand dollars out of it. Now, some of you fellows talk about hard luck. If any of you can beat that story, I'll give you what little I made on Dutch Flat this summer."
"Thatwashard luck, I must say," said Julian. "And you lacked only two feet of being rich?"
"Only just two feet," returned Banta, "We might have been running around now with two niggers to drive the team—one dressed as a coachman and the other as a footman. Pete didn't get over pulling his hair for a month after that."
"But we are going to stake ourselves next summer," said Julian. "If we lose, it will come out of our own pockets. Have you been anywhere near this mine that we are going to work?"
"What do you think of that, Pete?" exclaimed Banta. "He wants to know if we have been near his mine. Not much! I'll bet there are two hundred miners on Dutch Flat this minute, and not one of them has ever seen that mine. They have heard aboutit, they know there is plenty of gold up there, but nobody has ever been near it. The last two that went up there came away so badly frightened that they packed up and left the country so quick that you could not see them for the dust they kicked up along the trail. They saw something down there in the pit, and it took all the pluck out of them."
"What did they see?" asked Julian.
"Well, perhaps I was a little too fast in saying that they saw something," said Banta. "They heard something, and that was as good as though they had seen it. It first began with a scurrying on the ground, as if somebody was hurrying over it. Where it came from nobody knew; it seemed to fill the air all around them. Before they had time to get frightened at this there was a shriek that made it appear as if the pit was full of unearthly spirits, and then all was still; but the fellows had heard enough. The man down below yelled to his partner to pull him up, and when he found himself safe on top he laid down on the ground and swore he would never go down there again. Oh, you boyshave something to face, if you are going up there!"
"Could not the sound they heard have been occasioned by bats that had been disturbed while trying to take a rest?" asked Julian. "He had a light, of course."
"Bats!" exclaimed Banta, with deep disgust; "it was a great deal larger than bats. And he could have seen them if he had a light, could he not?"
"And, besides, bats don't shriek that way," said a miner who had not spoken before. "There used to be a miner who was working that pit along with Winkleman——"
"You hold your yawp," exclaimed Banta, fiercely; "I am telling the boys nothing but facts. I want them to know just what they have to face. I don't go into any of this cock-and-bull story about a dead miner. If that man died up there, and was buried, he's there yet, and he can't come out to work in the pit any more."
"What about him?" asked Julian. "We want to know everything connected with the mine, then we will be prepared for anything."
"But this thing is not connected with the mine," said Banta; "it is some sort of a story the miners have, and there is not a word of truth in it. They tell about a miner being seen there by everyone who goes down, and when you try to get up to him, he is not there. He goes farther and farther away every time you approach him."
"We have heard that story before," said Julian, with a smile; "Mr. Fay knows all about it."
"Then of course you don't believe it. I have told you the truth about the mine, and now you can go up with me next spring or stay away, just as you have a mind to."
"Oh, we will go with you," said Julian. "I never was interested in any property yet that I was afraid to work just on account of some things you could not see. When we bid you good-bye at Dutch Flat we shall know what there is in that mine before we come back."
"I like your pluck," said Banta; and the look of admiration he bestowed upon Julian more than confirmed his words. "If youlive up to that, I hope you will get some gold."
"They say that gold is plenty up there," said another miner. "They say it is lying around under your feet."
"And you never went there to get it!" exclaimed Julian with surprise.
"It isn't as thick as that," said Banta. "Probably every bucketful you send up to be washed will yield you from ten to fifty dollars. You will get rich at that rate."
"Well, I guess we have troubled you long enough," said Julian, rising to his feet. "We are really obliged to you, Mr. Banta, for offering to take charge of us, although we are nothing but tenderfeet. There are no Indians out there, are there?"
"Indians!—no; and if there were some on the warpath, we have miners enough up there to make them hunt their holes."
"I am glad of that; we don't want anything to do with those savages, after what we have read about them. We will see you again, Mr. Banta."
"Do so, and the next time I will tell youwhat things you want to buy, to make your enterprise successful. Good-morning."
"There's two boys that have gone plumb crazy," said one of the miners, after the door had closed upon Julian and Jack. "I wonder how they got that mine, in the first place?"
"The boys are bound to get gold there, if they can stick it out," said another. "One of the men who came down from there showed me a piece of metal as big as a marble, which he had picked up on the bottom of that pit; but the trouble is, can they stick it out?"
"I believetheywill," said Banta, settling down in his chair once more. "That boy who did most of the talking is one who has plenty of 'sand' to see him through. After they get fairly settled, I believe I'll go up and see how they are getting along."
"Then you will go without me," said Pete; "I am as close to that mine as I want to be."
"Well, Jack," said Julian, as he buttoned his coat, "what do you think of our mine? Shall we go up and try it? The miners all think there is gold up there."
"We will have plenty of time to talk about that between this time and spring," returned Jack. "Mr. Haberstro may come up before we get ready to start, and demand his money."
"I have no fears on that score," replied Julian. "Did not the lawyer say that he did not look for that? But, Jack, I really believe you are afraid of that mine."
"You need not be. When we get up there, and get things fixed, I will be the first to go into it."
"All right. I'll stand back and let you. Now, Jack, what are we going to do this winter? We can't sit around all the time without something to occupy our minds."
"I have been thinking about that. Let us call on Mr. Fay, and see what he says."
Julian thought this a piece of advice worth acting upon, and they bent their steps toward Mr. Fay's office, where they found him seated, as before, with his feet on the desk in front of him. When he saw who his visitors were, he jumped up hastily and seized each of them by the arm with a firm grip.
"Oh, boys, you surely haven't made upyour minds to go up to that mine next spring, have you?" he asked, almost in a whisper.