THE DEATH OF GIDEON PRAWLE.
Gideon was stretched out upon a bed in one of the front rooms of the
American House at Trinity.
The usually healthy, rugged look of his tanned face was now turned a
ghastly white, which was rendered even more so by his heavy dark beard.
The proprietor of the hotel was sitting beside the bed fanning him when
Jack, wild with anxious solicitude, was shown to his room.
He opened his eyes and smiled faintly when he recognized the boy.
“I’m afraid I’m a goner this time, Jack,” he said, taking the lad’s
hand in his two weather-scarred ones.
“I hope not, sir,” answered the boy with some agitation.
“The doctor was back to see me a few minutes ago, and he said I
couldn’t hold out over an hour more. Isn’t that so, Mr. Price?” looking
at the landlord.
Jack turned pale, and the tears started into his eyes as the proprietor
of the house nodded solemnly.
“I’m hit in a vital spot, and the wound is bleeding internally,” said
the prospector with difficulty.
“Oh, Mr. Prawle!” said the boy in an agitated voice.
“Don’t worry about me, my boy,” continued the wounded man. “I’ve fixed
everything with respect to the mine. I was afraid you wouldn’t reach
here before I petered out. You saved my life twice, lad, and I wanted
to see you before the end came. Mr. Price drew up the papers which
makes you the principal owner of the Pandora, and they’re signed and
witnessed in regular shape, so nobody can do you or your friends out
of the claim. Three-fifths of the mine is now yours, the other parts
I have allotted to Charlie Fox and young Meyer Dinkelspeil. I have
chartered the steamer River Bird to tow the flat-boat to one of the
wharves of this town. Mr. Price here will cart the stuff for you over
to the freight house, where a car has been arranged for to take the ore
to Marysville. The Montana Company will do the smelting and load it on
a car for the East. I have not settled as to its ultimate destination;
that will now be up to you. Lose no time in getting this first sample
of the mine’s productiveness on the market. As for the company itself
I have no fear but you will be able to organize it without any damage
to the interests of yourself and friends. Of course, you will be the
president and the manager, and from what I have seen of your character
I feel confident you are equal to the task of developing to its full
extent the mineral wealth of the Pandora.”
The foregoing was spoken with much difficulty and took time, for Gideon
Prawle’s strength was fast slipping away.
“But you have not told me how you came to be shot,” asked Jack at
length.
“Ever since I left Trinity two weeks ago I have been followed by three
men.”
“Three men!” exclaimed Jack. “Do you mean Otis Clymer and Dave
Plunkett?”
“I do, and the third was a saloonkeeper of Rocky Gulch, named Coffey.
They interviewed me first at Marysville, where they presented a paper
which they claimed bore the signature of Jim Sanders, and they called
my attention to the date, which they asserted gave them a prior
claim on the mine. To avoid trouble, they said they were willing to
compromise for a one-half interest in the Pandora. Of course I knew it
was a scheme and refused to deal with them. A few nights afterwards
they waylaid me on the street and tried to do me up, but I was quicker
with my gun and Plunkett was carried off with a ball in his chest.
After that I was constantly shadowed, and my delay in returning to camp
is due to my efforts to avoid further trouble with Clymer and Coffey,
both of whom swore to kill me on sight. I am sorry to say that Coffey
got me this afternoon in front of the hotel when I happened to be off
my guard, and the best I could do after he had reached me was to put
a ball in his arm. He and Clymer are in jail, and from what I know of
Western justice Coffey will swing for drawing on me in cold blood. I
didn’t have a fair show, and there are a dozen witnesses to prove it.”
This explanation had taxed the prospector’s vitality to a great degree,
and after that he spoke but little.
He died at ten o’clock that night, holding the boy’s hand in his own to
the last.
The death, unexpected as it was, of Gideon Prawle, was a sad shock to
Jack Howard.
The better he had come to know the rugged prospector the more he
respected and liked the man.
Their intimacy had gradually grown to be most confidential and
sympathetic.
Small wonder then that the brave boy dropped many sincere tears over
the body of his friend after the breath of life had fled.
Jack sent a messenger after Charlie and Meyer, the messenger being
directed to remain at the camp and watch over their interests at the
creek.
Two days later all that was mortal of Gideon Prawle was laid to rest in
the small cemetery on the green hillside back of the town of Trinity.
Then the boys, now directed by Jack as the responsible head of the
mine’s affairs, took up the threads of the arrangements engineered by
Gideon Prawle, and proceeded to carry them to a successful conclusion.
The loaded flat-boat was duly towed up to Trinity and the ore loaded on
a car provided by the railroad company.
That night the car started for the Marysville smelting establishment in
the center of a long freight train.
Jack preceded it on an afternoon local, while Charlie and Meyer, with
a couple of stout Trinity men, returned to their camp on the flat-boat
to make up a second load of ore for shipment on the same lines as the
first.
The same night also, by some unexplained means, Otis Clymer and his
associate Coffey, made their escape from the Trinity jail, and all
efforts of the authorities of the town failed to recapture them or
discover a clue to the direction they had taken in their flight.
It was certainly too bad, for these men at large were a dangerous
menace to the interests of the young owners of the Pandora copper mine.