The Haunted Mine Part 41

I did not send up enough dust the last time I was down there to pay for the rope."

At the end of an hour the boys resumed their journey, each one loaded with a few things they wanted to save, and in two hours more they arrived within sight of Dutch Flat. Some few of the men had already given up their workings and were sitting in front of the store, smoking their pipes; but one of them speedily caught sight of the boys, and the miners broke out into a cheer. In a few seconds more they were surrounded, shaking hands with all of them, and trying in vain to answer their questions all at once.

"This is no way to do it," declared Julian. "Let us put our things in the cabin and get our breath, and I will tell you the story."

"In the first place," began Jack, as he deposited the things with which his arms were filled and came out and seated himself on the doorsteps of Mr. Banta's cabin, "let me ask a few questions. I won't delay the story five minutes. Where is the man who owns this house?"

"Mr. Banta?" said one of the miners. "He took the upper trail two or three days ago, and rode with all possible speed in the direction of Mendota. He hopes in that way to cut off those villains."

"He will do it, too, for they have no horses," said Julian.

"No horses? What did they do with them?"

"I don't know, I am sure," answered Julian, in surprise. "They were on foot when they came to rob us."

"Why, their mule came up here a few hours after they left, and made the biggest kind of a fuss, and Banta suspected something at once. He called for some men to go with him, and he went as straight as he could to your mine. You were not there, and that proved that those miners had paid you a visit."

"We are going to get our dust again!" said Julian, slapping Jack on the shoulder. "But I hope they won't hurt the robbers after they catch them."

"Well, that is rather a difficult thing to tell. A man who comes into a mining-camp and watches his chance to steal money instead of working for it, takes his life in his hand."

"Then they must have been the ones who disturbed our things," said Jack.

"Probably they were. They brought the skins of the ghosts back, and also some of your provisions. They are there in his cabin now. Now let us have that story."

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

CONCLUSION.

When Julian had fairly settled down to tell his story, which he did by crossing his right leg over his left leg and clasping his hands around his knee, he discovered that there was not so much to be told as he had thought for. His adventure with the robbers was nothing more than might have happened to any one of the miners who were standing around him; the only question in his mind was, would the other miner have fared as well as he did?

"They came to our mine and stole our dust; but I don't see how they found out about the full bag. Mr. Banta told us to be careful about that."

"Why, Mr. Banta told it himself!" remarked one of the miners. "He said you had a bagful hidden away."

"You see, he had to do it, or the men here would have become suspicions and gone up to your mine in a body," explained another. "Go on--what next?"

"They took the full bag, as well as the half-empty one, and told us we would have to go with them on a three days' journey into the mountains, so as to keep you fellows here in ignorance of the robbery as long as possible but they took us only a two days' journey, and then told us we had gone far enough. That's all there was of it."

"Is that all you have to tell?" asked one.

"Well, no. They went away from here on horseback, you said. Now, what did they do with their animals? They were on foot when they came to see us, and they never said 'horses' once during the two days we were with them."

"Probably they rode their horses as far as they could, and then killed them."

"No doubt they pushed them over a bluff," said a man who had not spoken before.

"We did not see any horses; of that much we are certain. The only thing I can't see into is, what they did with Claus after we went away. Of course they agreed to give him a portion of the money they got off us."

"Maybe so, but I don't think they did it. Go on--how did they treat you?"

"As well as they knew how," answered Julian, emphatically. "That is the reason why I hope Mr. Banta will be kind to them if he catches them."

"Well, you'll see how he'll treat them," retorted a miner. "You'll never see those three men again."

Julian became uneasy every time the men spoke of the way the miners would use their prisoners if they found them, but he knew it would be of no use to say a word. If anything was done to them, he was in hopes the miners would get through with it before they came to camp. He was not used to any Western way of dealing with criminals, and he thought he was getting too old to become used to it now.

This was the way Julian told his story, in answer to numerous questions of the miners, who finally heard all they wanted to know. In regard to what had happened to Claus, none of the miners had any idea. He did not get any of the dust that was stolen from the boys, and he would be lucky if he got away with a dollar in his pocket.

"Do you know, I have been on the watch for them fellows to get into a squabble of some kind before we saw the last of them?" remarked a miner. "That Bob was a regular thief--one could tell that by looking at him. The short, pursy fellow--you called him Claus, didn't you?--looked like a gentleman; but his face did not bear out his good clothes."

The miners then slowly dispersed, one after the other,--some to their work, and some to lounge in front of the grocery, smoking their pipes,--and the boys were left to themselves. Their first care was to get something to eat, for they had not had a sufficient quant.i.ty of food, the bacon and hard-tack they first put into their blankets having disappeared until there was none left. Provisions were handy in Mr. Banta's cabin, and when they had got fairly to work on it they heard a sound from the miners whom they had left outside.

"Here they come!" shouted a voice. "Now we'll see what will be done with those prisoners!"

The boys looked at each other in blank amazement. They had caught the robbers, so their dust was safe; but what were they going to do with the culprits, now that they had captured them?

"I declare," said another miner, at length, "they haven't brought any prisoners with them! And there's Tony, with his arm tied up in a sling!"

The boys had by this time reached the door, and saw Mr. Banta, accompanied by a dozen miners, ride into the camp. The boys looked closely at them, but could not see anybody that looked like Bob and Jake; but Tony did not seem to have left all the fight there was in him up in the mountains, for he raised his rifle and flourished it over his head.

"Halloo! Mr. Banta," shouted Julian. "You meant to catch them, did you? But I guess you came out at the little end of the horn."

"Well, there!" exclaimed Mr. Banta, stopping his horse and addressing himself to his men; "didn't I tell you those boys would come back all right? Put it there, kids!"

Julian and Jack shook hands with all the returning miners before they saw an opportunity to propound any other questions; and then, when they did ask them, they did not get any satisfactory answers.

"Did you get our dust?" asked Jack.

"Yes, sir! And the men--ah!" said Mr. Banta, who stopped and looked around at the miners as if he hardly knew what to say next.

"Well, what about the men?" inquired Julian. "You saw them, of course."

"Oh, yes, we saw the men; and when we asked them where the dust was that they stole down here at the haunted mine, they took it out of their clothes and gave it to us. Ain't that so, boys?"

The men around him nodded their heads emphatically, as if to say their leader had told nothing but the truth, but there was something in their faces that told a different story. The boys concluded they would ask no more questions while Mr. Banta was around, but when he went away they were sure they would get at the truth of the matter.

"And, Julian, there's your money," continued Mr. Banta, who had been trying to take something out of his coat-pocket. "There is the full bag, and there is the other. The next time I leave you with such an amount of money to take care of, I'll give you my head for a football."

"Why, Mr. Banta, _you_ told them all about this!" a.s.serted Jack, laughingly.

"No, I never!" shouted Mr. Banta.

"Didn't you tell the men what we had done and all about the dust we had?" asked Julian. "You _did_ tell them, and the robbers were sitting by the camp-fire, and heard it all."