CHAPTER XXXIV
THE TAKING OF THE CLAIM
Before six o'clock that morning, while Van was arousing the blacksmith,the reservation madness broke its bounds. Twenty-five hundredgold-blinded men made the rush for coveted grounds.
The night had been one long revel of drinking, gambling, andexcitement. No one had slept in the reservation town--for no one haddared. Bawling, singing, and shouting, the jollier element had shamedthe coyotes from the land. Half a thousand camp fires had flared allnight upon the plain. The desert had developed an oasis of flowingliquors, glaring lights, and turmoil of life, lust, and laughter. Goodnature and bitter antagonism, often hand in hand, had watched the nighthours pale.
By daylight the "dead line" of the reservation boundary--the old,accepted line that all had acknowledged--resembled a thin, dark battleformation, ready for the charge. It was a heterogeneous array, whereevery unit, instead of being one of an army mobilized against a commonfoe, was the enemy of all the others, lined up beside him. There weremen on foot, men on horses, mules, and burros, men in wagons,buckboards, and buggies, and men in automobiles.
At half-past five the pressure of greed became too great to bear. Afew unruly stragglers, far down the line, no longer to be held incheck, bent portions of the long formation inward as they started outacross the land. The human stampede began almost upon the instant.Keepers on their horses, riding up and down, were swept away like chipsbefore a flood. Scattering wildly over hill and plain, throughgulches, swales, and canyons, the mad troop entered on the unknownfield, racing as if for their lives.
Gettysburg, Napoleon, and Dave had watched for an hour the human hedgebelow the "Laughing Water" claim. They, too, had been up sincedaylight, intent upon seeing the fun. They had eaten their breakfastat half-past four. At a quarter of six they returned, to their shackand began at their daily work.
The cold mountain stream, diverted to the sluices, went purling downover the riffles. The drip from countless negligible leaks commencedin its monotony. Into the puddles of mud and water the three oldminers sloshed, with shovels and picks in hand. They were tired beforetheir work began. Gettysburg, at sixty-five, had been tired fortwenty-five years. Nevertheless, he began his day with song, hischeery,
Rinktum bolly kimo.
They were only fairly limbered up when four active men appearedabruptly on the property, at the corners of the claim, and began thework of putting up white location posts, after knocking others down.They were agents employed by McCoppet, in behalf of Bostwick andhimself.
Napoleon was the first to note their presence. He was callingattention to the nearest man when a fifth man appeared by the cabin.He, too, had a new location post, or stake, to be planted at the centerof the claim. He was not only armed as to weapons, but protruding fromhis pocket was a wad of "legal" documents, more to be feared than hisgun.
He came straight towards Gettysburg, walking briskly.
"Morning," he said. "I've come to notify you men to get off of thishere claim. This ground belongs to me and my partners, by right ofprior location--made right now."
He thrust his stake a little into the yielding sand and had posted anotice, made out in due form, before the wet old workers by the sluicecould conclude that the man had lost his wits.
"What you givin' us, anyway?" said Gettysburg, remaining ankle-deep inthe mud. "Don't you know this here is the 'Laughin' Water' claim,which was located proper----"
"This claim on the reservation," interrupted McCoppet's agent. "Theline was run out yesterday, according to Government instructions, andthe line takes in this ground." He continued at his work.
Napoleon got stirred up then and there.
"You're a liar!" he cried out recklessly, "--metaphorical speakin'.Belay there, my hearty. You and your dog-gone pirate craft----"
McCoppet himself, on horseback, came riding down the slope.
"That's enough from you!" interrupted the gambler's agent. "You andyour crowd is liable for trespass, or Government prosecution, gettingon the reservation land ahead of date. This ground belongs to me andmy company, understand, with everything on it--and all the gold you'vetook out! And all you take away is your personal effects--and you take'em and git, right now!"
"Now hold on," said Gettysburg, dazed by what he heard. "I seen thatGovernment surveyor cuss. He said he was only running out a countyline."
McCoppet took the case in hand, as he halted by the boxes.
"Now, boys, don't waste your time in argument," he said. "You've madea mistake, that's all. Take my advice and hike to the reservation now,before the gang stakes everything in sight. You can't go up againstthe law, and you've done too much illegal work already."
"Illegal?" cried Napoleon. "You're a liar, Opal. Ain't mad, are you?I've drunk at your saloon, and you know this claim belongs to Van andus!"
"Don't I say you've made a mistake?" repeated the gambler. "I don'thold any feelings about it. Nobody was on for a sure thing about thereservation line till Lawrence run it out. We had suspicions, from astudy of the maps, but it took the Government surveyor to make thematter certain. It's a cinch you're on the reservation land. You cancopper all your rights, and play to win the bet this claim belongs tome--and everything else that's any good. Now don't stop to talk. Goto Lawrence for Government facts--and git a-going pronto."
Gettysburg was pulling down his sleeves. Old age had suddenly claimedhim for its own. The song had dried from his heart, and the light ofhis wonderful youth and hope departed from his eye. Dave was toostunned to think. All three felt the weight of conviction sink them inthe chilling mire. The survey of the day before made doubt impossible.
Gettysburg looked at the boxes, the pits they had dug, the waterrunning over the riffles, behind which lay the gold.
"I wish Van was to home," he said. "He'd know."
Their helplessness without the absent Van was complete. In the game oflife they were just old boys who would never become mature.
"Van Buren couldn't do no good," McCoppet assured them. "This ain't amatter of wrangling or fighting; it's a matter of law. If the lawain't with us you'll get the property back. Van Buren would tell youthe same. He didn't know the ground was reservation. We give him thebenefit of that. But all the gold you've got on the place you'll haveto leave with me. You never had no rights on the Government preserves,and I'm here ahead of all the bunch in staking it out at six o'clock,the legal opening hour."
Napoleon started to speak again, but glanced at Gettysburg instead. Abluff was useless, especially with Gettysburg looking so utterlydefeated. From his tall, old partner, Napoleon looked at Dave.
"Can't we tack somewhere?" he said. "Couldn't we hold the wheel andwait fer Van?"
Gettysburg repeated: "I wish Van was to home."
"Come on, come on," McCoppet urged, beginning to lose his patience."If you think you've got any rights, go to Lawrence and see. You'retrespassing here. I don't want to tell you harsh to pack your duds andhunt another game, but you can't stay here no longer."
Gettysburg hesitated, then slowly came out of the water. He looked atthe sluices hazily.
"Just gittin' her to pay," he said. "The only easy minin' I ever done."
Napoleon, suddenly dispirited--utterly dispirited--had nothing more tosay. Slowly and in broken order the three old cronies wended towardsthe cabin. Less than an hour later, with all their meager treasure inworldly goods roped to the last of Dave's horses, they quitted theclaim, taking Algy, the Chinese cook, along. They were homelesswanderers with no place in all the world to turn. Without Van theywere utterly lost. They expected him to come that day to the cove.Therefore, on a desert spot, not far from the new reservation line,taking possession of a bit of hill so poor that no one had staked it,they made their camp in the sand and rocks, to await Van's pleasure inreturning.