CHAPTER XXIII.
HAUNTED NO LONGER.
This time Julian laid out all his strength on the windlass; but thebucket resisted, and he knew that Jack's weight was safely within it.Presently his head and shoulders appeared above the pit, whereuponJulian slipped a bucket over the crank, and in a few minutes Jack wassafe above ground. To tumble him out of the bucket and dash into hisface some water that he dipped up from the stream with his hatoccupied but little of his time, and almost at once Jack opened hiseyes and looked about him.
"Well, sir, you saw them, did you not?" asked Julian, with a smile.
"I tell you, you wouldn't have smiled if you had been in my place,"replied Jack. "That thing looked awful as it came at me."
"What thing?"
"There is some animal down there who is not going to let us work thismine if he can help it," said Jack, feeling around with his right handto examine his shoulder. "As I stepped into the bucket with one foothe jumped--my goodness! I don't like to say how far it was; but I sawhis eyes shining green in the darkness, and just as I pulled on him hesprang at me, dug his claws into my shoulder, and pulled me out. Ithought I was gone up, sure; then all was blank to me. Did you seehim?"
"I did not see anything," said Julian. "When the bucket came upeasily, as though you were not in it, I went down after you; but I didnot see a thing. What was it?"
"You tell. It was some kind of an animal that I never saw before. Anddidn't he make a howling just before he jumped! I wish you would lookat my shoulder; it smarts awfully."
Jack could handle himself well enough now, and it was no trouble forhim to roll over on his face and give Julian a chance to view hiswounds. His shirt was torn completely off, and underneath were fourscratches which went the whole length of his back and spentthemselves on the thick waistband of his trousers, which they hadripped in two. Very little blood came from the wounds, and Julianassured him that they were not deep enough to cause him anyinconvenience.
"You must have killed him before he got to you," said Julian. "A bearcould not jump that far, and if it were a panther--why, you have donesomething to be proud of. You have done it anyway, for you havecleared up something that scared those two men away from here."
"Do you really think so?" asked Jack.
"I know it."
"But think of the howling he made! It seemed as if the pit was full ofbears and panthers, and I didn't know which way to look. Have you gotall the blood off? Then let us go down there and see about it. Wecan't work our mine with those fellows in there. If I killed him atonce, how did he come to jump so far? And then he took himself offafter clawing me; that is something I don't understand."
"You have to shoot one of those fellows through the brain or in thespine, in order to throw him in his tracks. Did you have a fair chanceat his heart?"
"I don't know. I simply shot a little ways below that green spot, inthe darkness, and the next thing I knew I didn't know anything."
"Because, if you had a fair chance at his heart, a wild animal willsometimes run a good way before he drops. He is down there somewhere,and I'll bet you will find him. But, Jack, there are others that wemust get rid of before we own this mine."
"What do you mean by that? I was in hopes I had shot the last one ofthem."
"Well, you did not. While I was working over you I heard those moansrepeated. That proves others are there--don't it?"
"I am going down to clear it up," persisted Jack, who had got upon hisfeet by this time and started toward the lean-to. "Hold on till I getcartridges to put in this revolver. I used to grumble at you becauseyou spent so much money in Denver, last winter, in shooting at amark, but I begin to believe you were right and that I was wrong. If Ihad been as awkward with this shooting-iron as I used to be, you wouldhave got the whole of that hundred thousand dollars to spend foryourself."
"Don't speak about it!" exclaimed Julian, who wondered what he shoulddo if Jack was taken away from him. "I need somebody to grumble at me,and you will do as well as anybody. Are you not going to put onanother shirt?"
"Not much, I ain't. Maybe I did not kill that animal, whatever it wasand he will come for me again. Now, you hold up and let me go," saidJack, when he saw Julian place one foot in the bucket."
"I am a better shot than you are, and if I pull on one of those ghostsyou will see him drop," returned Julian, drawing the other foot in."Take hold of the windlass and let me down easy. If I halloo, you mustlose no time in hauling me up."
Jack was obliged to submit to this arrangement, and he carefullylowered Julian out of sight. When the bucket stopped he seized therope, and in a moment more stood beside him.
"I am glad it is animals that are interfering with us, for I am not atall afraid of them," declared Jack. "Now, where is that other soundyou heard?"
The question had hardly been formed on Jack's lips when that soundcame to their ears--not faint and far off, as was the one that causedJulian to handle his revolver, but louder and clearer, as though theanimal that made it was close upon them. Sometimes they thought it wasin front, and they held their revolvers ready to shoot at a moment'swarning, and then, again, it sounded behind them; and in a second moreit appeared as if the rocks on each side of them concealed the enemythat was uttering those startling sounds.
"It is the echo--that's what it is," said Julian. "There is only oneanimal in here, and we can't shoot him any too quick."
Julian, aided by his lamp, led the way cautiously along thesubterranean passage, which would have been level but for thecarelessness or haste of the men who had worked the pit before them,peering into every little cavity he saw, until at last he stoppedsuddenly and pointed his revolver at something that lay upon thefloor.
"What is it, Julian?" whispered Jack, pressing eagerly to his side.
"Well, sir, you have done it now," answered Julian, bending over andexamining the animal as well as he could by the light of his lamp."This is the thing that frightened the other two men away."
"What is it?" repeated Jack. "A panther?"
"No, sir; this animal will make two of the biggest panthers you eversaw. It is a lion!"
"In America?" said Jack, in astonishment.
"It is what the miners call them, anyway. When we get it into thebucket I will let you have the crank, and we will see if it does notweigh almost as much as you do. This animal is a mother, and herbabies are crying for her."
Jack was surprised when he saw what a monster animal his lucky shothad put out of the way, for he did not lay any claim to his skill as amarksman in making that shot. He must have shot her plumb through theheart, or else she would not have died so quickly. She looked as bigas a yearling, marked for all the world like the panthers he had seenin the shows which he had attended; but it was her size more thananything else which impressed him. It was wonderful, too, what achange the sight of this animal made in Jack. His courage all cameback to him, and after taking a hasty glance at his trophy he took thelead and pressed on toward the farther end of the passage. Every fewfeet he found what the miners called "false diggings"--that is, placesthat they had dug, either on the right-hand side or the left, to seeif the vein they were following turned that way. In one of these"false diggings" Jack stopped and pointed silently before him. Julianlooked over Jack's shoulder, and saw that the miner had dug throughthe embankment there and into a cave which extended through into thegulch--the boys could see that by the little streaks of light whichcame in at the other end. On a slight shelf which formed one side ofthe passageway some leaves had been gathered, and in this bed were twocubs about the size of full-grown cats, while a third had crawled outand was trying, in his clumsy way, to follow his mother into the mine.The little thing was wild, and set up a furious spitting as the boysapproached.
"These things account for the noise you heard," remarked Jack, pickingup the cub and beating its head against the floor.
"What made you do that, Jack?" exclaimed Julian. "We ought to save theyoung ones alive."
"Well, suppose we d
o; what will we raise them on? It is true that wemight tell the milkman to leave us an extra quart or two to feed themon, for such little things can't eat bacon and hard-tack. Now, afterwe get through--"
"By gracious, Jack--look out!" exclaimed Julian, suddenly. "The oldman 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 serveas he had the first, and, looking toward the farther end of thepassageway, saw that the light was shut off by the head and shouldersof another monstrous lion that had stopped when he discovered theboys. In an instant two revolvers were aimed at the white spot on hischest.
"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 thepit. "It's a matter of life and death with us."
The revolvers cracked in quick succession, raising an echo that almostdeafened them. Without a moment's delay they fired again, then threwthemselves prone upon the floor of the cave, for they saw the lioncoming. He had evidently got all ready for a spring, and when thefirst two bullets struck him he made it, jumping over them and landingin the pit beyond. The moment he touched the ground two more ballswent into him, and then the boys jumped to their feet; for they didnot want the lion to spring upon them while lying down. But theanimal made no effort to recover his feet; he was too badly hurt forthat. He struggled frantically, springing from the ground as high asthe boys' heads, and his motions were so quick and rapid that therewas no chance to shoot him again; but this lasted only for a fewseconds. 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 ahaunted mine no longer. Our little 44-caliber revolvers did as goodwork as Banta would have done with his Winchester."
"Whew! I am glad it is all over, and that we were not frightened outof coming here. I don't believe in ghosts, anyway."
"How do you account for that man in the mine up the country who alwaysgets 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 wereafraid to go there. And as for their shooting at him, I don't take anystock in that, either. Now, I will finish what I was going to saywhen the old gentleman came in and interrupted me. After I have killedthese cubs, we will go to work and fill this cave so full of the rockswhich some of the miners have left scattered about that there won't bea chance for any other animal to make a commotion in this mine."
The work of dispatching the cubs was very soon accomplished, and thenthe boys wanted to get the lions above ground, so that they could seehow they looked. But when they undertook to lift the "old gentleman,"to carry him to the bucket, they found they had more than they coulddo; 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 forthe cubs, for the bucket would not hold any more.
"I'll go up and haul the old fellow out," said Jack. "I tell you, heis big enough to scare anybody--is he not?"
"Yes," answered Julian, with a laugh; "and if we had been frightenedaway, and somebody else had found out that they were lions, and notunearthly spirits, it would have been all over Denver inside of amonth."
Jack, who said he thought that was so, seized the rope and beganworking his way toward the top. Then the bucket began to move, andpresently Julian saw it go out over the top. In a few minutes Jackcame down again, and they got the mother of the family ready to behoisted up. Julian went up this time, tumbled the lion out beside hismate, and let down the bucket for the dead cubs and Jack, who, when hestepped out, found Julian with his hat off and drawing hisshirt-sleeves across his forehead.
"I tell you, Jack, if the dirt you send up weighs as much as theseghosts did, the one who pulls it out will have the hardest part of thework," said Julian. "Now let us sit down and take a good look atthem."
The longer the boys looked, the larger seemed to grow the animals thathad created so great an uproar in the country for miles around. Theyregretted they had not brought a tape-line with them, that they mighttake measurements; but they came to one conclusion--if they found ananimal like either of those in the mountains, they would give it awide berth. They had read of encounters with them by men, and duringtheir stay in Denver had listened to some thrilling stories, told byminers, of their fierceness, and they decided that those men had morepluck than they had.
"Let us take the skins off, and by that time it will be night," saidJulian. "We can fill up the hole to-morrow."
"I don't know how to go to work at it--do you?" asked Jack, taking offhis hat and scratching his head. "I never did such a piece of businessin 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 storywithout anything to show for it, they will think we are trying toshoot with a long bow. If we make a few holes in the skins by a slipof our knives, who cares?"
The boys went to work on the cubs first, one holding the hind legs andthe other doing the skinning, and they got along so well with themthat they went to work on the big ones with more confidence. By thetime it grew dark the skins were removed, and the carcasses weredragged away and thrown into the ravine. Then the boys began supperwith light hearts. The mystery of the haunted mine had been unearthed,and Julian and Jack were ready to dig up the treasure--that is, ifthere was any there waiting for them.