Down the Slope Part 35

"And one that I would like to experience. Just fancy poking around in this way till you struck what could be easily turned into gold."

As he spoke Fred dug up the earth here and there with a stick, playing the part, as he supposed, of the first discoverer, and at the same time slowly ascending the mountain.

"Hold on; don't leave so soon. I'm just getting ready to rest in proper style."

Fred turned around to return when he struck his toe against what appeared to be a projecting rock, and fell headlong.

"That's what you get for tryin' your hand at prospecting," Sam said, with a laugh, and Fred arose to his feet with a rueful look on his face, which caused his companion yet more mirth.

"It may be sport for you, but I don't see anything so funny about knocking all the skin off----h.e.l.lo! What a queer looking rock I tumbled over!"

He had turned, and was gazing at the projecting point, a fragment of which was broken, when Sam came up to learn the cause of his companion's astonishment.

"Why, it looks like coal!" he exclaimed, taking a piece from the ground to examine it more closely, and an instant later Fred was startled by hearing him shout, "It is coal! The vein at Farley's must run straight through the hill!"

"Then this belongs to the company."

"Not a bit of it. The one who owns the land can work here, and if we could raise money enough to buy ten or fifteen acres on this side of the hill, Byram and Thorpe would be mighty rich fellows."

CHAPTER XIX

THE CONSULTATION

It is not to be wondered at that the boys were in a perfect fever of excitement because of their startling discovery.

They uncovered the spurs of pure coal sufficiently to learn that it was a true vein, and, judging from the indications, there could be no question but it extended over a large area just below the surface.

"Is it as good as that taken out at Farley's?" Fred asked, when they ceased digging for a moment.

"I can't see any difference. Why, you and I alone could mine enough to make us pretty near rich, for there's neither shaft nor slope to be made."

"Do you suppose this land is valuable?"

"For farming purposes it isn't worth a cent, and unless the owner knows what is here it could be bought for a song."

"What is the price of a song according to that estimate?"

"Well, say a thousand dollars for a hundred acres."

"But you wouldn't need as much in order to get at this vein."

"Buildings would be necessary after a while, an' you'd want a track to get the coal into market."

"Don't you suppose we could manage to get a thousand dollars?"

"If you count on doin' it by workin' at Farley's, it would take about a thousand years. All the money I can earn has to be used by the family now that father isn't working."

"But can we do nothin'?"

"It does seem kinder tough to find a fortune, and not be able to take advantage of it, but I can't figure out how we can turn it to account."

"Let's fill our pockets with these pieces, and tell Mr. Wright what we've struck."

"Yes, an' before to-morrow night he'd own this whole tract. It would be wiser to see what Bill an' Joe think about the chances of raisin'

money."

"Very well, we'll talk with them. It won't do to leave this uncovered, an' I'm in a hurry to get back."

The earth was sc.r.a.ped, and above this the boys strewed branches and leaves until one might have searched a long while without discovering the secret.

Then, walking at their best pace, the successful prospectors continued on toward Farley's, trying in vain to suppress their excitement.

Those whom they wished to consult were at the mine, and without even stopping to tell Mrs. Byram of their discovery they went directly to the slope.

Bill and Joe were in the second level, at some distance from the other workmen when the boys arrived.

"What do you think of that?" Fred asked, excitedly, as he held out one of his specimens.

Bill, supposing he was to see a rare sight, brought his cap-lamp close to the object for a second, and then said angrily:

"Haven't you boys got anything better to do than bring coal in here for us to look at? We see enough of that stuff without luggin' it around in our pockets."

"But this didn't come from Farley's."

"Well, s'posin it didn't, what of that?" and Bill threw the coal far down the drift.

"Not much, except that Sam and I found a vein three miles from any settlement."

"What?" both the miners cried in the same breath, and Bill ran to pick up what he had thrown away so contemptuously.

Fred began and Sam ended the story of the "find," and while they were talking Bill turned the specimen over and over, saying when they concluded:

"If as good coal as that shows at the surface it must be a big vein."

"It is, but how can we take advantage of the discovery? Sam thinks the land could be bought for a thousand dollars."

"Then you must buy it."

"How could we raise so much money?"

"People don't allers pay cash for what they buy. You might get it for two or three hundred dollars down, with a mortgage for the balance."

"Even then I don't see how it can be done."