THE GIRLS ENTERTAIN GUESTS
During the absence of Polly and Eleanor from Pebbly Pit, that Saturday,
Mrs. Brewster made preparations for the entertainment of the young
visitors who were expected on the morrow. So many days that week had
been wasted in riding about the country that the pantry was almost bare.
Chickens were killed and dressed, pies baked, and other delectable
viands made ready for Sunday's dinner and tea.
No word had come from the scouting party on Grizzly Slide, but Mrs.
Brewster said she had no idea of hearing from them until they had
completed their investigations and returned home. Polly and Eleanor were
well tired out when they reached the house, after their visit to the
beavers, and made no demur when early bed was suggested to them.
Sunday was a glorious day and the girls bustled around rearranging the
living-room, and seeing that the hammock with its cushions and the
wicker porch chairs, were invitingly placed. Their own appearance had
been seriously discussed so that both girls felt suitably dressed when
the time came for the young surveyors to arrive.
Eleanor had loaned Polly one of her prettiest organdies, and had
arranged her really beautiful hair becomingly. Silk stockings now
encased Polly's shapely limbs, and her new low shoes looked twice as
well with the sheen of silk above them.
Eleanor wore a dress similar to the one Polly had on, and tried to
appear as like her as possible, so that no unfair advantage should arise
from appearances. Barbara smiled scornfully at what she considered
"childishness" in Eleanor. "Why should she want to have Polly look as
well as she could? And why bother, anyway, to dress up for a nobody like
Kenneth Evans? Of course, it would be all right for Jim Latimer--if he
were at home--but not in the wilderness. Chances were that the boys
would wear everyday working clothes." But all her "cold water" failed to
dampen the spirits of the girls.
The hour for the boys' expected appearance came and went but no sound
of horse-hoof was heard echoing from the rocky trail that led past the
Cliffs.
"Why! It is now eleven, and they were to be here at ten-thirty,"
remarked Eleanor, hearing the old clock strike the hour.
"Are you sure that that foolish-looking boy understood he was to tell
Jim about coming here Sunday?" asked Barbara, feeling rather pleased
that the girls felt fidgety over the nonappearance of their company.
"He wasn't foolish-looking at all! In fact I never saw such a fine head
with such intelligence as he had," retorted Eleanor.
"Come on, Nolla, let's walk down to the Cliffs and sit up on the
'Guards' where we can see the trail all the way to Bear Forks,"
suggested Polly, jumping up from the chair.
"All right! we may meet them before we get there," added Eleanor.
"You two certainly are acting silly over a mere boy you know nothing
about!" snapped Barbara, who felt peeved at losing the targets for her
sarcasm.
The only reply given this parting shot was a merry laugh. Both girls
skipped blithely along the path and were soon out of sight where the
roadway ran behind the steep banks of the terrace.
"Now that we are out of the way of Bob's eyes and tongue, let's go
slower or we'll spoil our shoes," said Eleanor, stopping to see if any
dust showed on her shiny toes.
"And we won't climb the high Guards, but just sit on the ledge nearest
the trail," added Polly.
The Sunday dinner hour at Pebbly Pit was usually at one o'clock, so
everything was ready and waiting just before that time. But no visitors
appeared, and Mrs. Brewster sent Anne down the road to see if the girls
and boys were visiting the Causeway and other unusual features of
Rainbow Cliffs.
"Oh, Anne! Are you alone?" called Eleanor, when she saw the messenger
coming from the house.
"Yes--are you?" returned Anne, shading her eyes from the sun, as she
looked up at the ledge.
"Come on up," Polly called, leaning over the rocks.
Anne soon joined them and looked around. "Where do you suppose those
boys can be?"
"That's just what we want to know. I'm sure we were plain enough in
telling that boy that he was to come over with Jim Latimer for
Sunday--weren't we?" demanded Eleanor.
"I thought it was plain enough, but Bob declares that the boy was too
stupid to understand a simple invitation. She is in her glory because
every one is disappointed," said Anne.
"I wouldn't let her see me feeling bad for anything!" exclaimed Polly,
stiffly. "But I do wish they would come, because I wanted to find out if
he ever knew _any one_ like our Old Man Montresor."
"Look! See way over there--out on the Bear Forks road?" now exclaimed
Eleanor, pointing away towards the distant trail.
"Sure enough!" breathed Anne, with relief.
"But there are three, and we only expected two. Who can the other one
be?" added Polly.
"Maybe they are not our company, at all, but some ranchers riding that
way," suggested Eleanor, fearfully.
"Ranchers seldom ride that trail, and never on Sundays. Now look!" said
Polly.
The three horses had stopped and soon, one rider was seen going along
the trail to Oak Creek, while the other two turned in at the gulch trail
and disappeared under the giant over-hanging rocks.
"Hurrah!" shouted Eleanor, waving her sun-hat wildly about her head.
"I reckon our company is coming, after all," said Polly, smiling with
satisfaction.
"I'll run back and tell your mother, Polly, as it will be at least half
an hour before they can reach the house," said Anne, happy also that
Barbara was to be silently contradicted.
"Don't dally around here, girls, when your company joins you," advised
Anne, turning around, after she had started down the cliff-side.
"I reckon we'd better go back with you--mother can be the first to say
how-dy to them," ventured Polly, looking like a stage-struck amateur at
her first appearance before the public.
"See here, Polly Brewster! Don't you go back on _me_! I wouldn't have
Bob watching us meet those boys and then laughing at us afterwards, for
anything in the world! We'll stay right _here_ and get acquainted before
we go to the house to be teased and made to feel uncomfortable,"
declared Eleanor, who knew her sister only too well.
"I guess Eleanor's right, Polly; it struck me that that nice young boy
was rather shy with strangers, so you will be doing him a great favor if
you get acquainted here and then bring him to the house to meet the
rest of us," admitted Anne, then she ran down the steep sides of the
rocks.
Now and then the waiting girls had glimpses of the two riders as they
rode along the winding trail past the Cliffs. And Jim Latimer also
caught a glimpse of the girls as he happened to pause, to point out the
Rainbow rocks to his friend. Instantly he pulled off his wide sombrero
and waved it gayly at his young hostesses. Then both boys spurred their
horses eagerly onward.
Eleanor and Jim felt perfectly at ease as they met and shook hands, but
it was evident that Polly and Kenneth Evans were not accustomed to
social ways or behavior, for both acted rather awkward at this meeting.
However, Eleanor generally fitted into any breach, and now she
unconsciously steered the would-be friendly craft of the four past the
reefs of self-consciousness into the haven of youthful reciprocity.
"We thought you were _never_ coming--it's past one o'clock you know, and
we looked for you at eleven," said she, catching Jim by the sleeve and
leading the way to the road where the two horses were waiting.
"We expected to be here at half-past ten, or eleven at the latest, but
it is a long story to tell, and we ought to explain to your mother at
the same time," replied Jim, throwing the bridle over his arm and
starting to walk beside Eleanor.
Naturally, Kenneth and Polly followed, but Eleanor turned around every
other moment to include them in her vivacious conversation about the
land-slide and the fears that Choko's Find was lost.
"Oh, but say! What a ripping chance we missed, Ken, by not being one of
the party on the Slide, eh?" cried Jim, enviously.
"I'd like to be one of the party up there now. Just fancy the
opportunities one would have for seeing how much he knows about
engineering," replied Kenneth.
"Maybe we can fix it so mother'll allow us to show you the way up. I'd
love to go again," ventured Polly, enthusiastically, as she forgot
herself in the absorbing subject of the gold mine.
"Ken and I have to be back at camp to-night! That's the worst of being
hired!" grumbled Jim.
"It's that, or being fired!" retorted Kenneth, laughingly.
Youth needs little to laugh at, so the four took this little speech as a
cue to laugh loud and long. It attracted Barbara's attention. She had
been trying to read, but now she got up to frown at the gay young people
she saw climbing the road to the house. Anne also heard the laughter
and hurriedly called to Mrs. Brewster: "They're almost here--come right
out."
So the visitors found a pleasant welcome awaiting them as they reached
the porch. Immediately after greeting the ladies, the boys apologized
for their lateness. Jim then acted as spokesman.
"We feared we would not be able to be here, at all, as the Boss of our
Crew forbid any one taking out a horse to-day. Jake has charge of the
horses, you know, and he was instructed not to pass one mount.
"Maybe the boys weren't furious! as we always take Sundays to ride to
Oak Creek. It's the only off day we get. But Carew said we had a long
move to make to-morrow, and his horses had to be fresh for the trip.
"Gee! I felt like thundering about camp, as I had looked forward to this
visit ever since Ken told me about how he met you folks, and all. Now we
both were all fixed ready to make an early start in the morning, and
there would be no horses!
"Ken and I stole out late last night and tried to bribe Jake with
goodies, then with money, and lastly I remembered tobacco! I agreed to
hand over a big bag of Cut Plug and a tin box of cigarettes if he would
loan us his two wagon-horses. These he could use as they were not
included in the ban on the crew horses.
"But Jake is a wily fellow and wanted to see our tobacco first. He knew
that neither of us used it and he doubted our having any!"
Jim chuckled at this, and Ken smiled sympathetically. The ladies also
smiled as an interested audience will. Then the narrator continued:
"Ken and I knew where Jake kept the store of tobacco that he always sold
to the other surveyors, so we fixed up a little scheme. We left more
than enough money to pay for what we took and then hurried back to Jake
with the gift of tobacco.
"I wish you could have seen him scratch his head in bewilderment when he
saw us hand over the star brand of tobacco he kept in stock! Still he
refused to say whether we could start early in the morning, and then I
got good and mad. If it wasn't for Ken, here, kicking me in the ribs,
I'd have spilled the beans!"
Every one laughed at Jim's slangy way of describing his interview with
Jake, but he was full of his subject and would not be laughed out of
countenance.
"Ken and I were getting ready to go to sleep, when Jake crept under our
tent flap and pulled my foot to attract attention.
"There were three other surveyors in our tent, and Jake did not wish
them to hear what was going on. The lights were out, so we were not seen
as we slid under the canvas and joined the driver over by the trees
where no one could hear us whisper.
"'You fresh boys!' was the first thing Jake said.
"Then he laughed deep down in his throat, and said; 'Ah kin bet on you
boys, ef Ah lets you-all have mah team to-morrer,--you-all shore will
come back in time?'
"I eagerly promised everything, and he added: 'Ah sold a lot of tobakker
to some one Ah don't know, but it doesn't matter who the smoker is, 'cuz
now Ah got mah money and tobakker, too! It's 'cuz that feller is so
smart that Ah feels shore the Boss won't get wind of mah hosses bein'
lent. 'Course Ah hez a right to use mah waggin-team ef Ah likes, but
Carew is strick and might get on his high-boss ef he learned Ah sent two
of his men on an errent.'
"I was so sure no one would ever know we rode the horses if he would
_only_ loan them to us, that I agreed to anything.
"Then he said: 'Wall, now, Ah left one of the crew's tripods over at
Bear Forks line to-day when Ford took an observation. Ah've got'ta go
fer it to-morrer--er find some good-natured feller who will go fer me.
Ah've got'ta get a heap of work done, to-morrer, and it looks well-nigh
impossible fer me to get that tripod!'
"I caught on at once, and turned to Ken and said: 'Why, Jake, I will get
that tripod for you. But I'd hate to walk so far as Bear Forks line, all
alone, you know.'
"That made Jake laugh softly and he said: 'Ef you-all will find that
tripod fer me, Ah'll lend you-all the hosses fer the day.'
"So that is how we got away from camp, but we have been hunting
everywhere for that old tripod and haven't seen a shadow of it. While
looking for it along the line that Ford surveyed this week, we lost our
way and had to have that rancher show us the way back to Bear Forks
trail. That's why we are so late."
"Well, now that you are here, suppose you brush up and get ready for
dinner. I've had it waiting this hour and a half," said Mrs. Brewster,
leading the way over to the pump.
"And maybe we aren't ready to do justice to your cooking! We haven't had
a crumb since supper last night, because we dared not ask the cook for
sandwiches, and we left camp before breakfast-time. Jake said we might
not be permitted to hunt up his tripod for him if any one learned he was
giving us his horses for the trip," explained Kenneth.
"Oh, you poor boys! Do hurry, then, and join us at table over under the
oak, yonder!" exclaimed Mrs. Brewster, hasting to bring out towels and
brushes for her young visitors.
The dinner was a great success, both from a culinary and also from the
social points of view. While thoroughly enjoying the home-cooking, the
boys talked of their work and adventures in the mountains. Jim had been
with the survey crew all summer, but Kenneth had but just arrived. So
Jim had a store-house filled with recent thrilling experiences and
escapes.
Close-up encounters with bears, rattle-snakes, and land-slides, were
passed off as mere trifles by him. But the problems of getting enough
good things to eat, now and then a dance at some school-house, or
finding a pretty girl one could talk to--these were awful!
When dinner was out of the way, the four young people started to walk to
Rainbow Cliffs, as that was the show-spot of all the countryside. Having
so many unique features and winding walks made it a delightful place
for quiet little chats or tete-a-tetes.
"I never saw anything like those great masses of color," said Kenneth,
as they drew near the sparkling walls.
"I told Ken when we rode past here to-day, that Tom wanted your father
to sell out the cliffs on a royalty basis, but he refused to. Now that
Tom is here again with John, and the gold mine is caved in with that
land-slide, maybe he will listen, eh?" asked Jim, eagerly.
Polly shook her head. "I don't believe he will, but we can't find out
why he is so stubborn about it."
"Jim, I don't believe our gold mine has caved in, at all. It's only
temporarily buried, up there. If there is any way it can be located
again, I'm going to insist upon having it worked!" declared Eleanor.
"Why? You don't need the money," laughed Jim.
"How do you know what I need!" retorted Eleanor. "Polly and I need money
this Fall, as we are going to go away to school together--somewhere. And
she can't go unless she has her own money, 'cause her father won't
consent to her leaving home, but her mother will--so she will have to
have her own money to get away with, see?"
"No, I don't see that that will work," Kenneth interpolated.
"Why not? If Mr. Brewster finds Polly is going, anyway, he will soon
enough give his consent," argued Eleanor.
"I never said I would go away to school with you, Nolla, although I
should like it better than going alone. And I'm sure I couldn't _think_
of leaving home if Daddy objected to it," said Polly seriously.
"Oh, well, I know you won't, but a lot of money of your very own will
help coax him to our way of thinking," explained Eleanor.
"You seem to think your mine will turn out money in time for you to
spend it this Fall," ventured Kenneth, amusedly.
"Why, of course it will, if we can get at it through that land-slide,"
returned she.
"Other mines take from one to ten years to prepare for and operate. If
you do the thing right, and have engineers plan for the apparatus to
work the ore, you won't be spending that gold this year," added Jim.
"No! Then what good will it do Polly or me? I have a fine idea that I
want to perfect right away, and it needs money. I haven't even told
Polly a word of it, as I must see how much money we get from the mine
before I mention it."
"But once your mine begins to pay it will keep on paying for ever so
long. You can plan to spend all the money you can possibly use, if the
mine has any kind of vein in it," said Kenneth, soothingly.
"I believe in taking a 'bird in the hand instead of the one in the
bush,' and here is a fortune right on this wall!" said Jim, pointing at
the jeweled cliffs.
He picked up a handful of the colored lava-stones and showed them to
Kenneth. "Do you know, Ken, that I wouldn't be one bit surprised but
what that new patent your father got out for cutting rare gems would
work on these to some good."
"I never thought of that! Maybe it would. If only he could come here to
investigate and try his machine on the jewels."
"Why not send him a small box-full of the stones and let him experiment
on them with the model he has in father's office?" asked Jim, eagerly.
"If Polly will give us some--I will send them on with a letter of
explanation," returned Kenneth.
"Of course! Take all you want. Every one is welcome to them," said
Polly, breaking off a cluster of fresh stones from the wall.
"What are you talking about, Jim? I heard Bob say something about a new
patented machine that would make millions out of these Cliffs, but what
do _you_ mean?" asked Eleanor.
"I guess we were both speaking of the same idea," replied Jim. "You see,
my father is financing the wonderful patent Ken's father invented. Dr.
Evans is a great inventor, and every once in a while he has a big idea.
That was how he planned the vacuum sweepers, and the self-stop on the
victrolas. He has lots of unusual patents granted him, and now he has
this idea patented.
"He can cut a stone so that it surpasses any hand-cut jewel for facets
and beauty, by merely dropping the material into the feeder on the
machine and letting it cut out the jewel in a few moments. The size of
stone wanted can be regulated by a screw. And the small bits of refuse
left after making large jewels, can be cut into sparkling chips.
"My father and Uncle George incorporated the company that is financing
this cutting machine. Now they can try out this lava and see if it is
hard enough to cut brilliantly."
"Wouldn't it be lovely to have Ken's father use these lava jewels in his
company, and let Nolla and me have the royalty to send us to school?"
ventured Polly, wistfully, looking at the distant peak where her gold
mine seemed lost for the present.
Jim and his friend were selecting the finest specimen of the lava as
Polly spoke, so they made no reply. Her eyes traveled along the Top
Notch Trail and finally came back to the Cliffs at home. She watched the
boys gather the stones and suddenly remembered Kenneth's likeness to
Montresor.
"Oh, Kenneth! I 'most forgot to ask you something!" cried she.
Ken stood up and looked at her with a broad smile. As he waited thus,
she was struck by the singular look that was so like her old friend's.
"That gold mine we told you boys about, was first found and staked by a
white-haired man who called himself Montresor. He lost it again in just
the same way as we did--a land-slide buried it and his stakes, and no
one could locate it again.
"Then he died and left his claim to me. I always believed he had one,
but every one else laughed at him and said he was crazy. Father was
good to him after the mine was lost, and took his part when folks
jeered. When he died, Daddy paid for the funeral and has the certificate
where he is buried. But we never learned who he was, except the fact
that he came from the East, although we advertised a lot.
"Just the day you arrived in Oak Creek, Mr. Simms, our lawyer, read a
letter which Old Man Montresor left. It was written to a wife and child,
but there was no name or address on it. Then I heard how father spent
lots of money trying to identify the dear old man and trace his
relatives but to no account.
"When we first saw you, we-all were impressed with your resemblance to
our old friend. So now I want to ask you if there ever was any one in
your family who went to the Klondike and was reported lost there?"
"Wh-y, ye-es, there is some such story in our family, but I do not know
the exact truth about it. And we seldom discussed it as mother always
felt badly afterwards.
"As far as I can understand it, my mother's only brother Peter was a
clever mining engineer in the East, but he was too ambitious to be
contented with his income. Mother says it was his wife who wanted to
spend money like water, who finally urged him to try his luck in
Alaska--and he left home to seek wealth in the Klondike.
"He placed all the money he had in the bank for his family, and left
Aunt Ada and my Cousin Gail with sufficient to live on if they were
economical. But my Aunt was not content with a simple home and a meager
income, and thought to add to her comfort and wealth by starting a fine
boarding-house.
"She knew nothing about the business, however, and soon lost all the
money she had been left with and then she ran in debt. When her
investment was sold out, she came to us for help. She and Cousin Gail
lived with us for two years; then Aunt Ada had pneumonia and died. She
begged us to adopt Gail as she had never heard from Uncle after he wrote
to her to send him money to get out of Nome. But she had none, so she
never told mother about this letter; we would have helped poor Uncle.
"As it was a year since he wrote that letter, and he was in wretched
health while in the far North, mother felt sure that he had succumbed to
the cold and his discouragement. Aunt Ada left a note in which she said
that Gail and I were to share like brother and sister in anything Uncle
Peter left us.
"But mother always laughed at the idea that there would be any wealth
coming to us from the Klondike. She said the only precious legacy we
could claim in the gold-fields of Alaska was the untiring energy and
earnestness Uncle was sure to use wherever he went or whatever he did.
But she wrote to the postmaster at Nome and received word that her
brother was dead.
"Gail was always delicate, and a year after her mother died, she, too,
took sick and was gone in a week's time. So mother tried to forget her
dear brother after these sad experiences, and it is only at rare
intervals that any one mentions his name to her."
When Kenneth finished telling his story, Polly asked eagerly: "But you
haven't told us your uncle's name--nor your mother's maiden name. Was it
Montresor?"
"Oh no! Just a plain New England name--mother is called Priscilla
Amesbury, and my uncle was Peter Amesbury. I never heard of a Montresor
in our family, either. But that doesn't say the old gentleman couldn't
have chosen an assumed name, you know."
Eleanor and Polly were plainly disappointed that the names of the
Klondike uncle and the hero of Polly's life, were not the same. Jim
laughed when he saw the girls' evident regret.
"Any one would think you two girls were anxious to share your gold-mine
with the heir of old Montresor. Now what is there to hinder me from
claiming the old man as _my_ uncle and telling you he is a twin-brother
of my father's? That will make me the heir to that mine."
"We wouldn't believe you, because you haven't one bit of resemblance to
this friend Polly knew, but Kenneth has. That is why it may turn out
that Montresor really was his uncle," said Eleanor.
As the sun went down back of Rainbow Cliffs, the two boys regretfully
said good-by. Mrs. Brewster planned for them to come and spend the
following Sunday at Pebbly Pit with John and Tom there, provided the
crew was not too far removed for the trip.
The boys promised to send word by mail, as Jake rode to Oak Creek two or
three times a week, and could mail a note from them if they were to be
within riding distance.
"We might even find a way to lose the valuable transit and then have to
come and hunt for it," laughed Kenneth, as they got into their saddles
for the return ride.
"But you didn't find the tripod! What will Jake say?" asked Polly,
anxiously.
"We'll let you know next Sunday," laughed both the boys.
That night when Jake smuggled his two horses back to the corral with the
crew's mounts, he turned to the boys and said:
"Whar did you-all leave it?"
"Leave what?" asked Jim, wonderingly.
"Why, mah tripod, yuh coyote!" grinned Jake, winking at Kenneth.
"Oh, yes! Well, Jake, I had to leave it at Pebbly Pit because it was so
heavy, but I'll go back for it next Sunday!"
"Nah, yuh won't, eider--some one else brought in th' tripod and ha'r it
'tis!" With that Jake displayed the article wanted.
"Who found it? No one could take a horse," exclaimed Jim, perplexed.
Then Jake leaned over and whispered in his ear: "The Boss hisself! He
rode to Yaller Jacket to spend Sunda' with his wife, yuh know, an' what
shoul' he do but come acrost the tripod whar Ah left it fer you boys to
pick up! Mebbe Ah didn't get hail on Pagoda!"