The Haunted Mine Part 22

"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 the money; 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.

CHAPTER XVII.

MR. BANTA IS SURPRISED.

"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 pa.s.s 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 cas.h.i.+er.

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 pen and 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 cas.h.i.+er 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 cas.h.i.+er's desk, and the transfer of the property from Mr. Gibson's order to their own was easily completed. Mr. Gibson signed a check, the boys attached their names to a big book which was thrust out at them, and then the cas.h.i.+er 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 a.s.sure 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 in the 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."