CHAPTER XVII
ANOTHER CALL FOR HUSTLE
They calmed Virgie, George stalked out and glumly brought in his brandnew pick and spade, and during dinner Harry and Terry tried to explain.
"You see, we've got our mines ready, all right," concluded Terry, "butwe can't work 'em."
"Why don't you make those fellows give you water, then?" demanded thespunky George. "Let's all go over there tonight with our guns and open aditch. If my gun would shoot I'd go alone."
"Trouble is, their guns do shoot, I reckon," drawled Harry. "And anothertrouble is, the water all around is petering out anyway. That streambelow is scarcely a trickle. Pretty soon we'll be carrying our drinkingand cooking water from Clear Creek, and that's a mighty long tote."
"Pat says there's talk of digging a big ditch and fetching water intothe gulch from a river over yonder," informed Terry. "But it will costmoney, and anybody who uses the water will have to buy by the inch."
"Why don't we wait for it?" proposed George. "You've got some moneysaved up, and you're making more, aren't you? Your father didn't sayanything about wanting his hundred dollars. He grub-staked you, on achance."
"Yes, and his chance is powerful slim," retorted Harry. "He can do morewith the hundred dollars than he can with a dry prospect. A hundreddollars is all we've been offered for it, and so his half interestamounts to only $50, and he'd lose out. We'll pay him what we borrowedand we'll do the waiting."
"Did they sell the ranches?" asked Terry.
"Part trade, and the rest is to come out of the crops. Guess theyhaven't got very much cash yet," answered George.
"That settles it," pronounced Harry. "When you go down you can take ourdust. I reckon there's near a hundred dollars."
"I'm not going down, for a while," declared George. "I'll throw in withyou fellows. Guess I can find something to do."
"What!"
"That's right," and George stubbornly wagged his head. "Maybe I won'tget rich, but I can stick. I can dig around here, can't I? And totewater and help with the cooking?"
"Hurrah!" cheered Terry. "He can have the True Blue and dig there; but Ishouldn't wonder if Pat would hire him. We need another man."
"I can dig better than I can bake," admitted George. "I'll do somethingto earn my keep. I mean to stay and help out, Virgie can go back in themorning with those people who brought us in. They're just lookingabout. Where does the True Blue lie? Can I have it? Have you dug muchthere?"
"No. It's a drier claim than this. The water was on our side, so wethought we'd clean up the Golden Prize first."
"How much land is the True Blue?"
"One hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, same as the Golden Prize. Werun one hundred feet from the cabin and into that little draw, and thenthe True Blue begins."
George stood up and gazed. His new property did not seem to impress himvery favorably; and indeed it was not especially inviting, being a barerocky slope, pitted here and there with the shallow prospect holes ofthe preacher.
"Shucks!" he criticized. "It's mostly dirt and stones. I haven't goteven that trough."
"You mean 'sluice,'" grandly corrected Terry. "'Trough' is a tenderfootword. All you can do is pan, anyway, with a bucket of water. But I'vegot to go back to Pat."
"Might as well ask him for a job for me, will you?" responded George."I'll take it unless I strike things rich first, and can make more moneypanning."
Terry trudged away. George helped Harry with the dishes, then carried abucketful of water to his claim and proceeded to "mine." This wasworking under difficulties, and Virgie, who had followed close after,proudly lugging his spade, soon returned.
"I don't think that's much fun," she stated.
"Well, it isn't," agreed Harry. "And 'most of the folks who expected toget rich easy think the same way."
Presently George gave up, out of humor. He was not only tired, but hotand grimy, too.
"There's not a blamed sign of gold in that whole claim," he crosslydeclared. "You fellows got cheated. You can have it back again. I'll digfor Pat Casey. Will he pay me a dollar and a half a day?"
"He ought to pay you the same he pays Terry. That's three dollars a dayfor you two, and four dollars a day for me, and some days I makefive--one day I made seven, and on Sundays I'm sure of six--! Why,there's a gold mine in itself. We'll be flying high," encouraged Harry.
George braced up. But--
"Huh!" he grunted. "'Tisn't a pound a day, though."
"Terry's coming," piped Virgie.
So he was--not only coming, but bringing his tools with him, and also adecidedly disgusted aspect.
"Don't you work any more?" called George. "Doesn't he want me?"
"Naw!" growled Terry, throwing down his pick and spade. "He's busted.And he doesn't want any more pies, either. Here are the last two. Hecan't eat 'em--says he has indigestion."
"Well, don't step on them," warned Harry. "We can eat them. But how ishe 'busted'?"
"It isn't his claim," answered Terry. "That is, maybe he doesn't own itat all. Some men he was arguing with this morning say it's theirs. Sonobody'll work there till things are settled up. And Pat's as mad as ahornet. They say all the dust in his oyster-can is theirs, too, becausehe got it out of that hole."
"Whew!" mused Harry. "The Extra Limited & Co. seem to be more limitedthan ever. And that's hard luck for Pat."
"What'll we all do, then?" queried George, aghast. "Light out and godown to Denver?"
"Not by a jugful!" And Harry swung the two pies. "We're here to stick. Ireckon three able-bodied men and a dog and a nice yellow mule can earn aliving somehow."
"I'll stay," asserted Terry.
"So will I," asserted George.
"I'll stay. I'll help Harry cook," proffered Virgie.
Harry picked her up and kissed her.
"No, you can't, Virgie. You go to the folks and tell them we're well andhustling and never say die, and pretty soon we'll be millionaires. Butyou see you can't stay with us, because we're liable to be traveling'round, looking for the gold, and we may have to sleep in the rain, andsometimes there won't be much to cook."
Virgie wept. She was only a little girl, you know.
"But I want a mine," she said. "Don't I get any mine?"
"Of course you do," assured Harry. "You can have the mine George wasworking on. It's named the True Blue. George doesn't want it. And it's areal mine--see those holes?"
"Sure. You can have it, for all of me."
Virgie's tears dried instantly.
"All right. I'll dig in it." And off she hurried, with George's pan, ina moment to be occupied poking into the dirt with a stick.
"Let's hold a council, boys," proposed Harry. "Pat was my best customer,for pies, and I don't think I'll bother any more with this cookingbusiness. I reckon we'll have to make a tour of the diggin's and offerthe services of three men and a mule. Jenny'll need to help, if sheexpects to eat. There's not much free grazing left around these claims."
While they were discussing ways and means, Virgie toiled in from her"mine," carrying the empty pan.
"I sha'n't dig any more," she announced. "I'm tired."
"What have you got in your hand, Virgie?"
"A piece of my mine," and Virgie extended her prize. "I'm going to takea piece of my mine down to show papa."
"That's a good idea," approved Harry. "Take him a sample, so as to proveto him."
"Is it gold?" invited Virgie.
"I shouldn't wonder," said Harry, kindly. "It looks just like thepocket-piece I threw at Ike. Wait. I'll see."
But although he searched among the stones and bushes at the place wherethe pocket-piece might have bounded from Ike's back, he did not comeacross it, and neither did Terry nor George.
"It was the same kind of quartz, though," he insisted. "Where did youfind your piece, Virgie?"
"Over there," answered Virgie, vaguely. "I don't remember. Can't I haveit? Isn't it gold? That's a gold mine."
"Maybe it is gold, from the Tru
e Blue mine. You can tell your father youmined it," bantered Harry.
"Goody!" And Virgie tightly clutched it. "And I can buy Duke with it.They're going to make him fight a bear and I don't want him to fight abear."
"What's that?" Harry's voice rang sharply. "Who said so?"
"Sure," affirmed George. "We saw him, in a show. And there's a sign uptelling folks to bring in a bear and have a match."
"Great Scotland! Why didn't you mention it before?" Harry was visiblydisturbed.
"I did, to Terry."
"Yes, he did, but I'd forgotten," supported Terry. "I was intending tospeak about it, but these other things put me off the track."
"What'd you sell him for?" taxed George. "Shouldn't think you'd havesold him. He's awful peaked, shut up there."
"Well, we didn't sell him for that, anyway," declared Harry. "Good-bye.You fellows stay here. I'm going."
"Where?"
"Down there--to Denver and Auraria. We'll go and rescue Duke, won't we,Virgie?"
"_You_ don't need to go, do you? The folks can rescue him. We'll tellVirgie to ask them to," proposed Terry. "They'll do it."
"No, sir!" rapped Harry. "I got him into that mess and I'll get him outif it takes every cent we have. We can pay Father Richards by sellingthe mine, if necessary; but Duke sha'n't fight any bear. That wasn't thebargain." And he bolted into the cabin.
Terry gazed at George; George solemnly gazed at Terry. It was a day ofsudden changes in plans.
"Shucks! Duke oughtn't to be made to fight a bear, though," murmuredTerry.
"I should say not--I call that downright cruel," agreed George. "But thebear wasn't there yet. Anyway, maybe the man won't sell."
"He'll have to, if Harry once gets after him. And the folks will helpnow," reminded Terry, hopefully.
"I'll help," chirped Virgie. "I'll help with my mine."
Harry bustled out. He had his blanket and a small package in somesacking.
"Of course there's no use in the rest of you going," he said. "I'vetaken most of our 'pile,' Terry, but I've left you a pinch of dust andthe two pies, and there's flour and stuff yet. I'll leave you Jenny,too. You and George and Jenny can be getting me a job while you'regetting for yourselves. I'll be back as soon as I save Duke from beingbear meat. If you can't find any paying jobs here, sell the blamed oldclaims, and we'll prospect in better diggin's. Climb on your pony,Virgie. Tell 'em good-bye."
"You mustn't sell my mine," objected Virgie, from the saddle of theIndian pony. "I don't want it sold."
"Well, they can sell the Golden Prize, if they have to," laughed Harry."So long, fellows. You'll see Duke and me later."
Away he strode at rapid limp--dear old Harry!--with Virgie on herambling pony keeping pace beside him, into the gulch and on.
"Guess we'll have to rustle," spoke Terry, to George, as they watchedhim and Virgie out of sight.