The Haunted Mine Part 31

"By gracious, Jack--look out!" exclaimed Julian, suddenly. "The old man is coming home to see what's the matter with his young ones!"

Jack dropped the cub he had picked up, and which he was about to serve as he had the first, and, looking toward the farther end of the pa.s.sageway, saw that the light was shut off by the head and shoulders of another monstrous lion that had stopped when he discovered the boys. In an instant two revolvers were aimed at the white spot on his chest.

"Be sure you make as good a shot as you did before," whispered Julian, whose face was as pale as Jack's was when he pulled him out of the pit. "It's a matter of life and death with us."

The revolvers cracked in quick succession, raising an echo that almost deafened them. Without a moment's delay they fired again, then threw themselves p.r.o.ne upon the floor of the cave, for they saw the lion coming. He had evidently got all ready for a spring, and when the first two bullets struck him he made it, jumping over them and landing in the pit beyond. The moment he touched the ground two more b.a.l.l.s went into him, and then the boys jumped to their feet; for they did not want the lion to spring upon them while lying down. But the animal made no effort to recover his feet; he was too badly hurt for that. He struggled frantically, springing from the ground as high as the boys' heads, and his motions were so quick and rapid that there was no chance to shoot him again; but this lasted only for a few seconds. His struggles grew weaker, and he soon lay upon the floor, stone dead.

"There, sir," said Julian, who was the first to speak; "this is a haunted mine no longer. Our little 44-caliber revolvers did as good work as Banta would have done with his Winchester."

"Whew! I am glad it is all over, and that we were not frightened out of coming here. I don't believe in ghosts, anyway."

"How do you account for that man in the mine up the country who always gets farther and farther away every time anybody tries to touch him?"

asked Julian.

"I believe that story originated in the minds of some miners who were afraid to go there. And as for their shooting at him, I don't take any stock in that, either. Now, I will finish what I was going to say when the old gentleman came in and interrupted me. After I have killed these cubs, we will go to work and fill this cave so full of the rocks which some of the miners have left scattered about that there won't be a chance for any other animal to make a commotion in this mine."

The work of dispatching the cubs was very soon accomplished, and then the boys wanted to get the lions above ground, so that they could see how they looked. But when they undertook to lift the "old gentleman,"

to carry him to the bucket, they found they had more than they could do; so they each took hold of a hind leg and dragged him to the shaft.

When they came to put him in, they saw there was not room enough for the cubs, for the bucket would not hold any more.

"I'll go up and haul the old fellow out," said Jack. "I tell you, he is big enough to scare anybody--is he not?"

"Yes," answered Julian, with a laugh; "and if we had been frightened away, and somebody else had found out that they were lions, and not unearthly spirits, it would have been all over Denver inside of a month."

Jack, who said he thought that was so, seized the rope and began working his way toward the top. Then the bucket began to move, and presently Julian saw it go out over the top. In a few minutes Jack came down again, and they got the mother of the family ready to be hoisted up. Julian went up this time, tumbled the lion out beside his mate, and let down the bucket for the dead cubs and Jack, who, when he stepped out, found Julian with his hat off and drawing his s.h.i.+rt-sleeves across his forehead.

"I tell you, Jack, if the dirt you send up weighs as much as these ghosts did, the one who pulls it out will have the hardest part of the work," said Julian. "Now let us sit down and take a good look at them."

The longer the boys looked, the larger seemed to grow the animals that had created so great an uproar in the country for miles around. They regretted they had not brought a tape-line with them, that they might take measurements; but they came to one conclusion--if they found an animal like either of those in the mountains, they would give it a wide berth. They had read of encounters with them by men, and during their stay in Denver had listened to some thrilling stories, told by miners, of their fierceness, and they decided that those men had more pluck than they had.

"Let us take the skins off, and by that time it will be night," said Julian. "We can fill up the hole to-morrow."

"I don't know how to go to work at it--do you?" asked Jack, taking off his hat and scratching his head. "I never did such a piece of business in my life."

"We are not going to take them off with the intention of selling them; we are going to show them to the miners. If we tell them our story without anything to show for it, they will think we are trying to shoot with a long bow. If we make a few holes in the skins by a slip of our knives, who cares?"

The boys went to work on the cubs first, one holding the hind legs and the other doing the skinning, and they got along so well with them that they went to work on the big ones with more confidence. By the time it grew dark the skins were removed, and the carca.s.ses were dragged away and thrown into the ravine. Then the boys began supper with light hearts. The mystery of the haunted mine had been unearthed, and Julian and Jack were ready to dig up the treasure--that is, if there was any there waiting for them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

"THAT IS GOLD."

"Jack, come up here; I have something to show you."

"What is it? Have you made yourself rich by was.h.i.+ng out the last bucket of earth I sent up?"

"I have something, and it looks like gold. Wait until I haul this bucket up, and then I'll send it down for you."

This conversation took place between Julian and his chum on the third morning after their arrival at the mine. The hole that led into the cave which the lions had made their habitation had been filled up so tight that even a ground-squirrel would have found it a hard task to work his way through; all the little rocks had been cleared away from the floor of the pit, making it an easy matter for them to carry the earth in a basket to the bottom of the shaft, and the digging had been going on for two days without any signs of "color" rewarding their anxious gaze. The buckets of dirt, as fast as they were sent up, were washed in the brook by the aid of a "cradle" which the boys had brought with them, but their most persistent "rocking" failed to leave a sediment behind. All the dirt went out with the water, and the cradle was as clean when they got through rocking it as it was before they began.

"I believe the fellow who wrote that letter must have taken all the gold in the mine," remarked Julian, one night, after they had spent a hard day's work at the pit. "Fifty thousand dollars! That's a heap of money to take out of one hole in the ground."

"I think so myself," replied Jack; "but we will keep it up until our provisions are gone, and then we will go back to Dutch Flat."

But on this particular day Julian, who was was.h.i.+ng the dirt at the head of the shaft, thought he saw some settlings in the bottom of his cradle, and forthwith began to handle it a little more carefully. The longer he rocked the more the sediment grew, until at last he had a spoonful, which he gathered up and then approached the mouth of the pit.

"If you have any gold to show me I'll come up before the bucket does,"

declared Jack; "the bucket can wait."

"I have enough here to buy another block of houses," exclaimed Julian, as Jack's head and shoulders appeared. "What do you think of that?"

"Is it gold or not?" asked Jack, who was inclined to be suspicious.

"Maybe it is some of that iron that Mr. Banta told us about."

"That is just what I was afraid of," said Julian; "but I reckon iron pyrites comes in lumps, don't it? If it does, this is gold, sure enough."

The boys did not know what to make of it, and they finally decided that they would put it away until Mr. Banta came up to see how they were getting along, which he had agreed to do at the end of two weeks.

The boys spoke of their "find" as iron pyrites, for they did not like to think they would be lucky enough to dig gold out of the ground, and this was not the only spoonful of dust that went into their bag.

The bag grew in size as the days wore on, and finally, at the end of two weeks, it was almost full.

"I tell you, Jack, I don't like to show this to Mr. Banta," declared Julian, holding up the bag, and looking ruefully at it. "Perhaps we have done all our best digging all for nothing."

"Well, it can't be helped," was Jack's reply. "They were inexperienced when they first came out here, and there was n.o.body to tell them whether they had iron pyrites or gold. But we have done one thing that he can't laugh at--we have worked the haunted mine."

Two weeks had never pa.s.sed so slowly to the boys before. They worked early and late, but they found time now and then to glance toward the entrance of the valley, to see if Mr. Banta was approaching. All this while the bag grew heavier and fuller, until Julian declared that it would not hold another spoonful.

"Then we must tie it up tight and hide it somewhere," said Jack.

"What is the use of hiding it?" asked Julian. "n.o.body knows that we have been so successful in our haunted mine."

"No matter; such things have happened, and we want to be on the safe side. We must hide it a little way from the lean-to, for there is the first place anybody will look for it."

Julian readily gave in, although he could not see any necessity for it, took a spade, and went with Jack to what he considered to be a good hiding-place. A hole was dug, the bag put in, some leaves were scattered over the spot, and then Jack drew a long breath of relief.

"One would think we are surrounded by robbers," said Julian. "Who do you suppose is going to steal it?"

"I don't know; but I have never had so much money, or what is equivalent to money, in my charge before, and, as I said before, I think it best to be on the safe side."

"Our two weeks have pa.s.sed, and Mr. Banta ought to be here to-morrow,"

observed Julian, leading the way back to the lean-to. "I expect he will look for us to be all chawed up."

The very next day Mr. Banta appeared. The boys had found an extra "find" that morning. Julian was rocking the cradle back and forth, and Jack was leaning over his shoulder to see what gold there was in it, when they heard the sound of horses' hoofs on the rocks, and looked up to find the miner and his partner, Pete, standing in the entrance to the valley.

"Now we will soon have this thing cleared up," exclaimed Julian, joyfully. "Mr. Banta, you don't know how glad we are to see you again!"