--AND A FRIEND IN NEED.
There were several reasons that inclined Tom to look for aid from this
quarter. In the first place Rufus, although seemingly bound to his
masters by bonds of affection, had no direct interest in their crazy
schemes. In the second place, he had distinctly shown a friendly
interest in the boys as had been evidenced when he winked his eye
enjoining silence on them. And in the third place, persons of African
descent are notoriously less liable, on account of their lower
intelligence, to seizures of insanity than persons gifted with higher
intellect.
But whether they could count upon the black to aid them was quite
another matter. They did not for some time find an opportunity to put
the matter to a test. Supper was eaten and the boys, despite their
anxiety, made a hearty meal. During its progress they conversed with
their hosts, who talked quite rationally on all subjects but their
fabulous gold mine.
Anyone coming across the party and not knowing the facts of the case
would have taken them to be a jolly band of explorers or miners rather
than what they were, two lunatics and two boys who were in their
power. 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 expression
that 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 not
puffed his long when he suddenly sprang to his feet, dashed the pipe
to the ground and burst out in an irritated tone:
"Here we are losing time that ought to be spent in work. This may
cause us serious delay in getting the gold out; it may cost us
billions of dollars before we get through."
His companion's face lighted up with its odd, gleaming-eyed expression
at the mention of the topic.
"That's right, Seth," he assented, "we ought to be at work. We may be
keeping the youngsters here out of a fortune as well as ourselves."
Tom caught Rufus' eye at this juncture and thought that he detected a
friendly gleam in it, but he gave no sign and soon averted his gaze
for fear it might attract the men's attention. It cannot be said that
Tom and Jack felt much enthusiasm, but they made a good assumption of
it and seized upon picks and shovels as if they were going to make
their fortunes the next minute.
The "mine," as has been said, was at the foot of the tall, conical
peak. On close inspection, Tom and Jack were amazed at the amount of
work the two fanatics had done on it. Tons of dirt and gravel had
been excavated. A deep hole ran right into the ground under the sharp
pointed peak.
"Quite a hole, eh, boys?" asked Stapleton in a satisfied tone.
"Indeed it is," assented Tom. "Why, you have done more work than I
should 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 to
note 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 start
work on the other. In that way we'll meet halfway and we're bound to
find the gold. We can't miss it."
"Good gracious," thought Tom, "he's crazier than Jim, and that's
saying 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 till
they dropped before they abandoned their task.
There was no help for it, and with the best grace they could Tom and
Jack 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's
enough under here to make a hundred people millionaires."
With that, Jim and the other man set off to the other side of the
conical peak. As this was quite some distance off, it will be seen
that 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 looks
very much as if we were going to share the fate of those convicts who
are condemned to the mines."
"Well, if you can see a joke in that, you've got a fine sense of
humor, that's all I can say. Condemned to the mines, eh? Yes, and it
looks 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 much
worse than this. Tunnel under this mountain, indeed! Why it would take
a hundred men a hundred years to do it!"
"Yes, and then it would fall on the top of them. But don't let's
discuss that phase of the matter. This mountain will never be tunneled
under."
"How do you know?"
"At any rate, not without assistance. But we can only make one attempt
to get away."
"Why is that?"
"For the simple reason that if one fails we'll never get another. We
are dealing with lunatics, remember that, Jack."
"As if I could forget it! They're the worst pair of looneys I ever
saw."
"That being so, it won't do to take any chances. We must work and
quiet 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 our
absence; but I'm afraid that they will be worrying themselves to
death."
"That can't be helped. I'll bet they're not worrying any more than we
are."
"There's just one hopeful feature about this whole business," resumed
Tom, 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 made
me think he might be disposed to aid us. But if he should, he'd be in
danger, too, and----"
"Hey, you white folks down dar! How you lak shovelin' dirt, huh? Das
a po'ful big mountain you alls has got ter underminerate."
They looked up. Over the top of the excavation the round, black face
of the negro who had been the topic of their talk and thoughts, was
looking down at them with a broad grin that exposed a double row of
gleaming white teeth.