The Bungalow Boys Along the Yukon

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  --AND A FRIEND IN NEED.

  There were several reasons that inclined Tom to look for aid from thisquarter. In the first place Rufus, although seemingly bound to hismasters by bonds of affection, had no direct interest in their crazyschemes. In the second place, he had distinctly shown a friendlyinterest in the boys as had been evidenced when he winked his eyeenjoining silence on them. And in the third place, persons of Africandescent are notoriously less liable, on account of their lowerintelligence, to seizures of insanity than persons gifted with higherintellect.

  But whether they could count upon the black to aid them was quiteanother matter. They did not for some time find an opportunity to putthe matter to a test. Supper was eaten and the boys, despite theiranxiety, made a hearty meal. During its progress they conversed withtheir hosts, who talked quite rationally on all subjects but theirfabulous gold mine.

  Anyone coming across the party and not knowing the facts of the casewould have taken them to be a jolly band of explorers or miners ratherthan what they were, two lunatics and two boys who were in theirpower. When he got an opportunity to do so, Tom stole a look at Rufus'face. It was a round, good-natured countenance, but for any expressionthat would give him a clew as to how Rufus was inclined toward them,the boy might as well have regarded a graven image of ebony.

  After supper the two miners got out their pipes, but Seth had notpuffed his long when he suddenly sprang to his feet, dashed the pipeto the ground and burst out in an irritated tone:

  "Here we are losing time that ought to be spent in work. This maycause us serious delay in getting the gold out; it may cost usbillions of dollars before we get through."

  His companion's face lighted up with its odd, gleaming-eyed expressionat the mention of the topic.

  "That's right, Seth," he assented, "we ought to be at work. We may bekeeping the youngsters here out of a fortune as well as ourselves."

  Tom caught Rufus' eye at this juncture and thought that he detected afriendly gleam in it, but he gave no sign and soon averted his gazefor fear it might attract the men's attention. It cannot be said thatTom and Jack felt much enthusiasm, but they made a good assumption ofit and seized upon picks and shovels as if they were going to maketheir fortunes the next minute.

  The "mine," as has been said, was at the foot of the tall, conicalpeak. On close inspection, Tom and Jack were amazed at the amount ofwork the two fanatics had done on it. Tons of dirt and gravel hadbeen excavated. A deep hole ran right into the ground under the sharppointed peak.

  "Quite a hole, eh, boys?" asked Stapleton in a satisfied tone.

  "Indeed it is," assented Tom. "Why, you have done more work than Ishould have thought possible for two men to accomplish."

  "Ah, we'll get along twice as fast now with four pairs of arms,"chuckled poor, crazed Stapleton gleefully. "The gold can't be far off,either."

  "But if we keep on," objected Jack, hoping it would have some weight,"we shall undermine the whole of that conical mountain above there."

  The same crafty glitter that Tom had been the first of the boys tonote in Stapleton's eyes now shone in those of his taciturn companion.

  "That's the scheme," explained Seth, hastily but enthusiastically."You and your friend will dig from this side. Jim and I will startwork on the other. In that way we'll meet halfway and we're bound tofind the gold. We can't miss it."

  "Good gracious," thought Tom, "he's crazier than Jim, and that'ssaying a whole lot. What a pickle we are in!"

  "Come, let's go to work!" cried Jim eagerly.

  It was easy to be seen that with their golden dream before their eyes,mere physical labor had no terrors for these men. They would work tillthey dropped before they abandoned their task.

  There was no help for it, and with the best grace they could Tom andJack picked up their tools, jumped into the hole and began to work.The men watched them for a while.

  "That's fine," applauded Jim; "that's the way to make the dirt fly.Keep that up and we shan't grudge you your share of the gold. There'senough under here to make a hundred people millionaires."

  With that, Jim and the other man set off to the other side of theconical peak. As this was quite some distance off, it will be seenthat they planned to dig a subway on quite an extensive plan. In fact,the idea would have never entered into the head of a normal being.

  As they vanished Tom quit work and leaned on his shovel.

  "Well, I'll be jiggered! This is a fine go, isn't it, Jack?"

  Jack flung down his pick with a snort

  "Those fellows belong in an asylum, that's where they ought to be.What are you grinning at? I don't see anything funny in all this."

  "I was just thinking that we came up here for a holiday, and it looksvery much as if we were going to share the fate of those convicts whoare condemned to the mines."

  "Well, if you can see a joke in that, you've got a fine sense ofhumor, that's all I can say. Condemned to the mines, eh? Yes, and itlooks uncommonly as if we'd get a life sentence, too."

  "Come, don't be downcast, Jack. After all, it might have been worse.They might have shot us."

  "Humph! That's so, too; but I don't know that it would have been muchworse than this. Tunnel under this mountain, indeed! Why it would takea hundred men a hundred years to do it!"

  "Yes, and then it would fall on the top of them. But don't let'sdiscuss that phase of the matter. This mountain will never be tunneledunder."

  "How do you know?"

  "At any rate, not without assistance. But we can only make one attemptto get away."

  "Why is that?"

  "For the simple reason that if one fails we'll never get another. Weare dealing with lunatics, remember that, Jack."

  "As if I could forget it! They're the worst pair of looneys I eversaw."

  "That being so, it won't do to take any chances. We must work andquiet their suspicions. Then when the chance comes we must take it;but we must be sure it is the right chance."

  "In the meantime, what of the folks on the _Yukon Rover_?"

  "They will have to form the best theory they can to account for ourabsence; but I'm afraid that they will be worrying themselves todeath."

  "That can't be helped. I'll bet they're not worrying any more than weare."

  "There's just one hopeful feature about this whole business," resumedTom, ignoring Jack's irritable remark.

  "What's that?"

  "Rufus, the negro. How can we utilize him?"

  "You think he is friendly?"

  "I can't be sure. At any rate, he's not crazy, and certain things mademe think he might be disposed to aid us. But if he should, he'd be indanger, too, and----"

  "Hey, you white folks down dar! How you lak shovelin' dirt, huh? Dasa po'ful big mountain you alls has got ter underminerate."

  They looked up. Over the top of the excavation the round, black faceof the negro who had been the topic of their talk and thoughts, waslooking down at them with a broad grin that exposed a double row ofgleaming white teeth.