CHAPTER XXI.
THE CAMP AT DUTCH FLAT.
The boys slept as comfortably as if they had been at home in theirboarding-house. It is true their blankets were rather hard, and theirpillows were not as soft as they might have been, being simply theirsaddles with nothing but the horse-blankets over them, but they neverknew a thing from the time they went to bed until they heard Mr.Banta's voice roaring out "Catch up!"
They found all in the camp busy. Some were raking the embers of thefire together, others were getting ready to cook breakfast, but mostof them were engaged in packing the animals. This last was a task thatthe boys always wanted to see, for the operation was so complicatedthat they did not think they could ever learn how to do it. The muleswere blinded, in the first place, so that they could not kick when theheavy pack was thrown upon their backs, and the man on the near side,who seemed to "boss" the business, placed his foot against the mule'sside and called lustily for the rope which the other fellow held inhis hands.
"You have more rope there, and I know it," was the way in which hebegan the conversation.
"Here you are," said his companion, and the rope was passed over thepack to where the other fellow was waiting to receive it.
"Come, let's have a little more rope," repeated the first man.
"There's oceans of it here, and you can have all you want of it."
"Are you all fast there?"
"I will be in a minute. Here's your end."
"All fast here. Now let us see him kick it off," said the first man;whereupon a dexterous twist tore off the blinders, and the mule wasfree to go and join his companions. It was all done in two minutes,and the pack was safe to last until the train halted for the night.
"Come on, boys," said Mr. Banta, turning to Julian and Jack, whostood, with towel and soap in their hands, watching the operation ofpacking the animals. "You must get around livelier than this. When youget to digging out gold by the bucketful you won't wait to wash yourfaces or get breakfast; you'll be down in that mine before the sun isup."
"Are we not going to eat at all?" asked Julian, who was amused at theman's way of telling them that they would be so anxious to find thegold that they would not spend time to cook their meals.
"Yes, I suppose you will have to eat sometimes, but you will hold yourgrub in one hand and use the spade with the other."
The miners were in a hurry, now, to resume their journey, and it tookthem about half as long to eat breakfast as they devoted to theirsupper. Five minutes was about the time they applied themselves totheir meal, and when Mr. Banta arose from his seat on the ground anddrew his hairy hand across his mouth to brush away the drops of coffeethat clung to his mustache the miners all arose, too. In less timethan it takes to tell it they were all in their saddles and underway, and when they stopped again for the night they were in a campwhich they had occupied on the way down to Denver. Mr. Banta was astalkative as usual, and when he had got his pipe going, and had takenthree or four puffs to make sure that it was well started, he beganhis round of stories, which the boys were always ready to listen to.
They were all of a week in making their journey; and about threeo'clock in the afternoon, when the old bell-mare struck a trot, Mr.Banta turned to Jack and gave him a poke with his finger.
"We are almost home," said he, joyfully. "I don't suppose this willseem like home to you, but it does to me, for it is the only home Ihave."
"Do you never get tired of this business?" asked Julian. "I shouldthink you would like to go back to the States, where you belong."
"How do you know that I belong in the States?" asked Mr. Banta.
"I judge by your way of talking, as much as anything. You were notraised in this country--I am certain of it."
"Well, I will go back when I get enough."
"How much do you call enough?"
"Half a million dollars."
Julian and Jack opened their eyes and looked surprised.
"I've got three hundred thousand now in the bank at Denver."
"Then you are not so badly off, after all. I think I could live on theinterest of that much."
"There are some objections to my going back," said Mr. Banta, lookingoff toward the distant mountains. "When I get back there I will haveto settle down to a humdrum life, and there won't be nothing at all toget up a little excitement. Here the thing is different. We live here,taking gold in paying quantities all the time, and the first thing weknow we hear of some new placers, which have been found somewhereelse, that make a man rich as fast as he can stick a shovel into theground. Of course we pack up and go off to find the new placers. Wehave a muss or two with some outlaws, and when we get rid of them wego to work and find out that there is nothing there."
"Then you wish yourself back at Dutch Flat," said Jack.
"That's the way it happens, oftentimes. It is the excitement thatkeeps us a-going. Now, in the States I would not have any of that."
"Did you find many outlaws in this country when you first came here?"
"They were thicker than flies around a molasses barrel," answered Mr.Banta. "But we have got rid of them all, and your life is just as safehere as it would be in St. Louis. Whenever we go to a new country, theoutlaws are the first things we look out for. There's the camp, allright and tight, just as we left it."
The camp covered a good stretch of ground; but then Mr. Banta had nottold them that there were fully two hundred miners in it, and ofcourse such a multitude of men, where nobody owned the land, wouldspread over a good deal of territory. The boys had a fine opportunityto take a survey of the first mining camp they had ever seen. Theywere surprised at the neatness of it. Things in the shape of oldbottles or tin cans were not scattered around where somebody wouldstumble over them, but such articles were thrown into a ravine behindthe camp, out of sight. The most of the miners had erected little logcabins to protect them from the storms of winter, and the others hadcomfortable lean-to's which served the same purpose. Most of the menwere busy with their mines, but there were three or four of themloafing about, and when the noise made by the pack-animals salutedtheir ears they turned to see who was coming. One glance was enough;they pulled off their hats and waved them by way of welcome.
"Well, if here ain't Banta!" they all exclaimed in a breath. "Did youdrop your roll down at Denver and come back to get more?"
"Nary a time," replied Mr. Banta, emphatically. "We got just what wecould eat and drink, and that is all the money we spent. Who haspassed in his checks since I have been gone?"
(This was a miner's way of asking "Who's dead?")
"None of the boys who are here shovelling for gold," said the man,coming forward to shake hands with Mr. Banta, "but those four outlawswho came up here from Denver to deal out some whiskey and start a farobank could tell a different story, if they were here."
"They did not get a foothold here, did they?" asked Mr. Banta.
"I'll bet they didn't. We hardly gave them time to unpack their goodsbefore we jumped on them and spilled their traps on the ground. One ofthe bums grew huffy at that, and he took a wounded arm down for thedoctor to bandage up."
"Have any of the boys made their pile?"
"Some have, and some have not. Tommy Moran has struck a vein withsixty thousand dollars in it, and has been loafing around for the lasttwo months, doing nothing. He went out to-day to see if he can getsome more. He wants to go home, now."
"I should not think he would like to travel between here and Denverwith that amount of money about him," said Mr. Banta.
"Well, there will be plenty more to join in with him when he is readyto go. The discouraged ones number a heap. The sign looks right, butthe paying-stuff don't pan out first-rate. Some are going home, andthe rest are going off to hunt up new diggings."
Having briefly got at the news of what had been going on at the campwhile he had been away, Mr. Banta led the way toward his own logcabin, which was fastened up just as it was when he left it. There wasone bed, made of rough boards, an abundance of di
shes, a fireplace,and one or two chairs, and that was all the furniture to be seen. ButMr. Banta thought his cabin just about right.
"It don't matter how hard it rains or blows, this little house hassheltered me for a year, and has got to do so until my vein gives out.Now, boys, catch the pack-animals and turn them over to me, and I'llsoon make things look as though somebody lived here."
Julian and Jack managed to secure the pack-animals by catching thebell-mare and leading her up to the door of the cabin, and it was notlong before the bundles which they had borne for two hundred mileswere placed on the ground, and Mr. Banta was engaged in carrying thethings into his house. He unpacked all the bundles except the one thatbelonged to the boys, and that would not be opened until they reachedtheir mine.
"Are you fellows decided on that matter yet?" he asked. "Had you notbetter stay with us here on the Flat? We will promise you that nospooks will trouble you here."
"The more you talk about that mine, the more determined we are to seewhat is in it," answered Jack. "You need not think you can scare usout in that way."
"I like your pluck, and if you are determined to go there, why, I amgoing with you. It is only five miles, and we can easily ride overthere in two hours."
"Where is it you are going?" asked one of the miners, who stood in thedoorway unobserved.
"You know that haunted mine, don't you?"
"Great Moses! You ain't a-going up there!" said the man; and as hespoke he came into the cabin and sat down in one of the chairs.
"The boys are going there, and I thought I would go with them to seethem started," said Mr. Banta. "The mine is all grown up to grass,because there hasn't been anybody up there for some time now."
"No, I should say not!" exclaimed the miner, as soon as he hadrecovered from his astonishment. "Are the boys plumb crazy? I tellyou, lads, when you see----"
"Tony, shut your mouth!" cried Mr. Banta. "The boys won't seeanything, but they'll hear something that will take all the sand outof them. I have talked to the boys many times about that mine, duringthe past winter, but they have their heads set on it, and I don't seeany other way than to let them go."
"Well, if we hear anything, there must be something that makes thenoise," asserted Julian.
"It will be something that you can't see," said the miner, shaking hishead and looking thoughtfully at the ground. "Two fellows went upthere since I knew the mine, and when they got down to the bottom ofthe pit they were so frightened that they came down here as fast asthey could and struck out for Denver. They were both big, stout men,and were armed with Winchesters and revolvers. If they had seen whatmade the noise, they would have been apt to shoot--wouldn't they?"
"I should think they would," answered Jack.
"Will you go down into the mine when you get there?" asked the man,turning to Mr. Banta.
"Not much, as anybody knows of," declared the latter, shivering allover. "The ghosts don't bother anybody working at the top, so I shallget along all right."
"Well, that puts a different look on the matter," remarked Tony,evidently much relieved. "Then I shall expect to see you back in twoor three days."
"Yes, I'll be back by that time," asserted Mr. Banta; and he added tohimself, "if anything happens to the boys after that, why, I shall bemiles away."
This was the first time that Mr. Banta had anything to say to theminers about what he intended to do when he reached Dutch Flat, but itwas all over the camp in less than five minutes. The miner went slowlyand thoughtfully out of the cabin, as if he did not know whether itwas best to agree to his leader's proposition or not, and it was notlong before the men who were busy with things about their houses cameup in a body to inquire into the matter. They were filled withastonishment; and, furthermore, they were anxious to see the boys whowere going to take their lives in their hands and go up to work thatpit, from which strong men had been frightened away. And it was sowhen six o'clock arrived, and the men all came in to get their supper.Some of the miners declared that it was not to be thought of, and somesaid that if Mr. Banta was bound to go, they would go with him to seethat he came out all right.
"You see what the miners think of this business," remarked Mr. Banta,as he began preparations for their supper. "They think you are out ofyour heads."
"Well, you will not see anything of it, because you won't go into themine," said Jack.
"You are mighty right I won't go into the mine," declared Mr. Banta,looking furtively about the cabin, as if he expected to see somethingadvancing upon him. "We will go up there and put the pit all right,and then you will have to work it."
"I wonder if there is any gold up there?" asked Julian.
"There is more gold up there than you can see in Dutch Flat in ayear's steady digging. The men who have been down in the mine say so."
"Well, when we come back you may expect to see us rich," said Julian,compressing his lips. "And you may be sure that the spooks won't driveus out, either."
This was all that was said on the subject--that is, by those in thecabin; but when the men had eaten their suppers they all crowded intoit, and the stories that would have been told of ghosts interferingwith miners who tried to take away their precious belongings wouldhave tested the boys' courage; but Mr. Banta did not allow them to goon.
"As I told these boys down at Denver, I am telling them nothing butfacts in regard to this mine, and I want you to do the same," said he."Don't draw on your imagination at all."
Before the miners returned to their cabins, it came about that theboys were going to have a small army go with them on the morrow. Atleast a dozen miners declaimed their readiness to go with Banta "andsee him through," and Banta did not object.
"The more, the merrier," said he, when they had been left alone and heturned down his bedclothes. "Now, you boys can spread your blankets onthe floor in front of the fire and go to sleep; I will have you up atthe first peep of day."