CHAPTER V
VAN'S PARTNERS
The Monte Cristo mining property comprised a tunnel in the hill, aglory hole, a little toy quartz-mill--five stamps strong--thebunk-house, kitchen, blacksmith-shop, stable, corral, and four humanbeings. These latter were a Chinese cook named Algy, a Piute Indianhalf-breed called Cayuse, and two rare souls--Napoleon G. Blink and"Gettysburg"--miners, and boastful old worthies, long partnered andbeloved by Van.
Just at present the tunnel was empty, the glory-hole was deserted, andthe quartz-mill was silent. The mine had proved a failure. Van hadexpended many thousands of dollars and ten months of time todemonstrate the facts; and now, in possession of much new experience,an indomitable spirit, two tired partners, and a brand-new claim, hewas facing his fate, as heretofore, with a wonderful boyish cheer.
Not all this knowledge was vouchsafed to Beth when she and her maidwere presently put in possession of the place. With the utmost gravityVan introduced her by old Dave's appellation, Miss Laughing Water. Themaid he merely called Elsa. His explanation as to whence they hailed,whither they were bound, why he had taken them in charge, and how hehad lost the pinto pony, was notable chiefly for its brevity. He andhis charges were hungry and somewhat pressed for time, he announced,and he therefore urged Algy to haste.
Dinner had been promptly served at twelve. Algy was therefore indespair--for Algy was proud of his art. He still had good red beans,most excellent coffee, corn-fed bacon, the best of bread and butter, ahunger-inspiring stew of lamb, white potatoes, fine apple sauce, andsuperlative gingerbread on hand in great abundance, however, but inspite of it all he spluttered.
"What's mallah you, Van?" he demanded several times. "Wha' for no tellme blingee ladies? How you s'plose I gettee dinner? Sominagot, youcome like this, that velly superstich."
He would readily have laid down his very life for Van, but he laid agood dinner instead. During its preparation Beth and her maid sat downon a bench beside the bunk-house, in the presence of Cayuse, Napoleon,and Gettysburg, while Van led the horses to the stable for refreshment,and Algy talked to himself in pigeon English.
It was an odd situation for the girl from New. York, but she foundherself amused. Both Napoleon and Gettysburg had been cast for amusingroles, which they did not always fill. Neither, as might be supposedfrom his name, had ever even smelled the faintest suggestion of thingsmilitary. Napoleon had once been a sailor, or, to be more accurate, ariver boatman. He was fat, short, red-headed, red-necked, red-nosed,and red-eyed. His hands were freckled, his arms were hairy. He turnedhis head to one side like a bird--and promptly fell in love with demurelittle Elsa.
Gettysburg was as thin as Napoleon was fat. He had a straggling graybeard, a very bald pate, high cheek bones, and a glass eye. This eyehe turned towards the maid, perhaps because it was steady. He also hada nervous way of drawing one hand down his face till he lowered his jawprodigiously, after which, like the handle of a knocker, it would fallback to place with quite a thump. He did this twice as he stared atBeth, and then he remarked:
"Quite a hike yit, down to Goldite."
"I suppose it is," said Beth in her interesting way. "How far is it,really, from here?"
"'Bout twenty miles of straight ahead, and two miles of straight up,and three of straight down--if a feller could go straight," saidGettysburg gravely, "but he can't."
Beth looked very much concerned. She had hoped they were almost there,and no more hills to climb or descend. She felt convinced they hadridden over twenty miles already, and the horseman had assured her itwas thirty at the most, from the station so far behind the mountains.
"But--Mr. Van can't walk so far as that," she said. "I'm sure I don'tsee what----"
She was interrupted by the reappearance of Van himself.
"Isn't there a horse on the place?" he asked his partners collectively."What have you done with the sorrel?"
Gettysburg arose. "Loaned him to A. C., yistiddy," said he. "But theoutlaw's on the job."
"Not Vesuvius?" Van replied incredulously. "You don't mean to say he'sturned up again unslaughtered?"
"Cayuse here roped him, up to Cedar flat," imparted Gettysburg."Cornered him there in natural corral and fetched him home fer fun."
Napoleon added: "But Cayuse ain't been on board, you bet. He likessomething more old-fashioned than Suvy. Split my bowsprit, I wouldn'ttow no horse into port which I was afraid to board. When I was bustin'bronchos I liked 'em to be bad."
"Yes," agreed Gettysburg, "so bad they couldn't stand up."
A bright glitter came for a moment in Van's blue eyes.
"If Suvy's the only equine paradox on the place, he and I have got toargue things out this afternoon," he said, "but I'll have my dinnerfirst."
Beth was listening intently, puzzled to know precisely what the talkimplied. She was vaguely suspicious that Van, for the purpose ofescorting her on, would find himself obliged to wage some manner of warwith a horse of which the Indian was afraid.
Further discussion of the topic was interrupted now by the cook, whoappeared to announce his dinner served. Beth and her maid were,therefore, directed by Van to a table set for two, while he, withNapoleon and Gettysburg for company, repaired to a place in the kitchen.
Beth was hungry. She ate with all the relish of a mountaineer. Algy,moreover, was a kitchen magician in the art of transforming culinarycommonplaces into viands of toothsome delight. Elsa becamespeechlessly busy. Despite her wishes in the matter, Beth could hearthe men talking beyond.
"So them convicts has hiked over this way already," said the voice ofGettysburg distinctly. "We heard from A. C. about the prison break,but he wasn't on to which ones they was."
"One is Matt Barger," Van informed them. "He's the only one I know."
"Matt Barger! Not _your_ Matt Barger?" demanded Gettysburg sharply.
Van nodded. "Mine when I had him."
Gettysburg arose excitedly.
"He ain't come hunting fer you as quick as this?" he inquired uneasily."That ain't what's fetched him over to the desert?"
"Haven't asked him," answered Van. "He promised to look me up if everhe got out alive."
"Look you up!" Gettysburg was obviously over-wrought by the mereintelligence that Barger was at liberty. "You know what he'll do! Youknow him, boy! You know he'll keep his word. You can't go foolin'around alone. You've got to be----"
"Pass the beans," Van interrupted. He added more quietly: "Sit down,Gett, and shut the front door of your face."
Napoleon was eating, to "keep Van company." He pushed away his plate.
"Just our luck if these here derelicts was to foul us, skipper andcrew," he observed ruefully. "Just our luck."
Gettysburg sat down, adding: "Why can't you wait, Van, wait till thewhole kit and boodle of us can move to the bran'-new claim?"
Van finished half a cup of coffee.
"I told you I should continue on without delay. The horses willprobably come to-night for all of you to follow me to-morrow."
"Then why don't you wait and go with us?" repeated Gettysburg. "We'llgit there by noon, and you ain't got nuthin' to ride."
The horseman answered: "Suvy's the prettiest gaited thing you eversaw--when he gaits."
"Holy toads!" said the older man apprehensively, "you ain'tsure-a-goin' to tackle the outlaw today?"
"I've always felt we'd come to it soon or late," was Van's reply. "AndI've got to have a horse this afternoon. We can't kill each other butonce."
"Supposen he stoves in your pilot-house," said Napoleon. "What shallwe do about the claim, and all this cargo, and everything?"
"The claim? Work it, man, work it," Van responded. "What's a miningclaim for but to furnish good hard work for a couple of old ring-tailedgaloots who've shirked it all their lives?"
"Work it, yep, but what on?" asked Gettysburg. "We're as broke as ahatched-out egg."
"Haven't you worked on shinbones and heavenly hopes before?" inquiredthe busy
leader of the partnership. "And that reminds me, Algy, whatabout you?" he added to the Chinese cook. "We can't afford atippe-bob-royal chef of your dimensions after this. I guess you'llhave to poison somebody else."
"What's mallah you, Van?" Algy demanded aggressively. "You makee mevelly sick. You get velly lich I cook your glub. You go bloke, I cookalle same. Sominagot, I b'long go with you all time. You no got goodluck I never want the money, you savvy? You go hell--go anywhere--I gosame place--that's all. You talkee big fool, that velly superstich."He looked at Van fiercely to disguise a great alarm, a fear that hemight, after all, be dismissed in the break-up impending.
Van shrugged his shoulders.
"Sentenced for life. All right, Algy, if your cooking kills us off, atleast, as the brave young husband remarked, it will all be in thefamily."
Algy still looked as fierce as one of his heathen idols.
"You t'ink velly smart," he said, still concealing his feelings."Lats!" and with that he went out to chop some wood.
"Batten me into the pantry!" said Napoleon. "I'll bet old Algy'd boardthe outlaw himself, fer you, Van, squall and all."
"That horse ain't human," Gettysburg exploded anew. "Van, you can'tride no such Fourth-of-July procession!"
"Shut up!" murmured Van, with a gesture towards the room where Beth andher maid were dining. He added aloud: "The chances are we'll find he'sa cheap Sunday-school picnic. Napoleon, you and Cayuse go out andprepare his mind for work."
"Aye, aye," said Napoleon rising to go, "but I wish we had somesoothin' syrup, skipper."
He and the Indian were heard to depart, by Beth, sitting back in herchair. She was greatly alarmed by all she had heard of vengefulconvicts and the vicious horse, and could eat no more for nervous dread.
"That horse has killed his man, and you know it," said Gettysburg in awhisper that the girl distinctly overhead. "Boy, boy, let the Injunride him first."
"There, there, ease off," Van answered quietly. "You keep the womenentertained about the mill while Suvy and I are debating."
He gulped down a last drink of coffee, silenced the miner's furtherremonstrances, and departed by way of the kitchen door.
Beth arose hurriedly and hastened forth, intent upon immediateprevention, if possible, of any further ordeals undertaken in behalf ofherself. She was thoroughly frightened. A prescience of somethingominous impending seemed to grip her very heart. She glanced about,helplessly, unfamiliar with the place. Van was nowhere in sight. Shestarted to run around the cabin when Gettysburg appeared in her path.
"Well, well," said he nervously, "now who'd a-thought you'd finishedeatin'?"
"Oh please," she said, "please go tell Mr. Van I'd rather he wouldn'tattempt to ride _any_ horse again to-day. Will you please go tell himthat?"
"You bet your patent leathers!" said Gettysburg. "You just go over andglobe-trot the quartz-mill while I'm gone, and we'll fix things rightin a shake."
He strode off in haste. Beth watched him go. She made no move towardsthe quartz-mill, which Gettysburg had indicated, over on the slope.
She soon grew restive, awaiting his return. Elsa came out and satdown. The old miner failed to reappear.
At length, unable to endure any longer her feeling of alarm andsuspense, Beth resolutely followed where Gettysburg had gone, and sooncame in sight of the stable and high corral. Then her heart struck ablow of excitement in her breast, and her knees began to weaken beneathher.