The Haunted Mine Part 38

This being done, the three, with a small package of provisions on their shoulders, set out once more at a rapid pace, Bob leading the way.

For a long time no one spoke, the travelling being so difficult that it took all their breath to keep pace with Bob; but finally he turned about and made a motion of silence with his hand, and then they began to pick their way through the bushes with more caution. After a few moments he stopped, pushed aside the branches of an evergreen, and after taking a survey of the scene presented to his gaze he made another motion, which brought his companions up beside him.

"We have caught them at it!" said he. 'Julian is on top, and Jack is down below, shovelling dirt. Where are your revolvers?"

"Those fellows from the Flat have not come yet," said Jake, looking all around to make sure that the boys were alone. "Lead ahead, Bob, and remember that we are close at your heels."

Leaving his provisions behind him, Bob arose to his feet, stepped out of his place of concealment and advanced toward the pit. Julian was so intent on watching his companion below that he did not hear the sound of their footsteps until they were so close to him that he could not pull his partner up; so he simply raised his head, and was about to extend to them a miner's welcome, when he saw something that made him open his eyes and caused him to stare harder than ever. There was something about that short, fleshy man which he was sure he recognized. It did not make any difference in what style of clothing Claus was dressed in,--whether as a gentleman of leisure or as a miner,--his face betrayed him. He saw that it was all up with him, for he had no time to go to the lean-to after his revolver.

"Pitch that dirt out of the bucket and come up, Jack," called Julian, shaking the rope to attract the attention of his comrade. "Claus is up here."

There was a moment's silence; then Jack's voice came back in no very amiable tones.

"Get away with your nonsense!" he exclaimed. "If I come up there again for just nothing at all, I pity _you_! If Claus is there, make him show himself."

"Why, he's your uncle," a.s.serted Bob, who began to wonder if that was the first lie that Claus had told them.

"That man?" exclaimed Julian. "Not much, he ain't. Jack, is Claus your uncle?"

"Tell him to come down here and I'll see about it," said Jack, who could not yet be made to see that there was something really going on at the top. "That makes two I have against you, old fellow."

"No, you haven't got anything against me," said Julian. "Here is Claus. Don't you see his face? Any man who would claim such an uncle as that--"

"That is enough out of you!" interrupted Jake. "Fetch that partner of yours up, and then bring out your money--we must get away from here in a hurry."

"Well! well!" cried Jack, who happened to look up and catch a glimpse of Claus's face. "I will come up directly."

"Say, you, down there," called Bob, bending over the shaft, "if you have a revolver down there, be careful that you keep it where it belongs."

"Don't worry yourself," answered Jack; "I haven't anything in the shape of a revolver about me. Hoist away, Julian."

The dirt was emptied out by this time, and Jack stepped into the bucket and was promptly hoisted to the top. Then he stood waiting for the three men to make known their wants; but he devoted the most of his time to scrutinizing the face of Claus, to whom he was indebted for the presence of the other two.

"Do you think you could recognize me if you should chance to meet me again anywhere?" asked Claus.

"Certainly, I could," answered Julian; "I would recognize you if I saw you in Asia. You are bound to have some of that money, are you not?"

"That is just what I am here for," said Claus, with a grin. "You have one bagful and another partly full, and we want them both as soon as you can get them."

Jack was astonished when he heard this, for Mr. Banta had told him to keep the full bag hidden where no one could find it. How, then, did Claus know anything about it? Julian was equally amazed; but, after thinking a moment, he turned on his heel and led the way toward their lean-to. Bob and his companion kept close by the side of the two boys, for they did not want them to find their revolvers before they knew something about it. They had heard from various sources that the boys were fair shots, and they did not want to see them try it on.

"Well, Claus, you slipped up on one thing," said Julian; "you didn't get any of that block of buildings--did you?"

"Come, now, hurry up!" insisted Bob. "Where are those bags?"

"Here's one you have been talking about," answered Jack, pulling the head of his bed to pieces and producing the article in question.

"Julian, you know where the other one is."

While Jack was engaged in performing this work the revolvers were kept pointed straight at him, for fear he might pull out another one and turn it loose upon them before they could draw a trigger. But the boys did not seem to care any more about the revolvers than if they had been sticks of wood that were aimed at them. Claus had a revolver, but he did not seem inclined to use it.

"Are you sure it is gold in here, and not something else?" asked Bob.

"You have got the bag in your hands, and you can look and see for yourself," said Jack.

"Go out in front of the lean-to and sit down on the ground so that I can watch you," said Bob. "Jake, go with that boy and dig up the other one. Is this all you have made since you have been here?"

"Yes, that's all. Now, what are you going to do with us?"

"I'll tell you when Jake comes back. Is there much more of that lead down there?"

"Well, you have charge of the mine, now, and there is no law to hinder you from going down and finding out," retorted Jack. "Claus, where are you going? I don't expect to see these gentlemen any more, but I should like to keep track of you."

Claus did not see fit to answer this question, and in the meantime Julian and Jake returned with the other bag.

CHAPTER XXIX.

A TRAMP WITH THE ROBBERS.

"Oh, it is gold!" exclaimed Jake, as Bob took the bag and bent over it; "it is not iron pyrites."

"Stow that about your clothes, Jake, and then we'll go on," said Bob; "and we want you boys to gather up provisions enough to last you for three or four days. But, in the first place, where are your revolvers?"

"Don't you see them hung up there, in plain sight?" asked Jack, pointing to the articles in question, which were suspended from the rack of the lean-to, in plain sight. "What are you going to do with us?"

"We are going to take you a three days' journey with us, and then turn you loose."

"Why can't you let us go now?" queried Julian. "We have nothing else that is worth stealing."

"No, but you are too close to Dutch Flat," Jake replied. "We haven't got anything against you, and when we get out there in the mountains--"

"You might as well shoot us on the spot as to lose us among these hills. I pledge you my word that we will not stir a step--"

"That is all very well," interrupted Bob with a shake of his head which told the boys that he had already decided on his plan; "but, you see, it don't go far enough. If you don't go to the miners, the miners will come here to you, so we think you would be safer with us. Gather up your grub and let us get away from here."

The boy saw very plainly that Bob and Jake wanted to make their escape from the miners sure; so Julian collected some bacon and hard-tack, which he wrapped up in a blanket and fixed to sling over his shoulders. There was one thing that encouraged him--"if he did not go to the miners, the miners would come after him"--and proved that they must in some way have had their suspicions aroused against Bob and Jake. Jack also busied himself in the same way, and in a very few minutes the boys were ready to start.

"I must say you are tolerably cool ones, to let ten or fifteen thousand dollars be taken from you in this way," remarked Bob, who was lost in admiration of the indifferent manner in which the boys obeyed all orders. "I have seen some that would have been flurried to death by the loss of so much money."

"If Claus, here, told the truth, they have a whole block of buildings to fall back on," answered Jake. "But maybe that is a lie, too."

"No, he told you the truth there," said Julian. "He tried to cheat us out of those buildings while we were in St. Louis--"

"I never did it in this world!" declared Claus, emphatically.