9176
HE [168] next morning Vance met his old acquaintance, Hank Casey.
“Good morning, Mr. Casey,” said Vance, cheerily.
“Hello, pardner,” was the laconic and somewhat dejected reply.
“I haven’t seen you for some time,” said Vance.
“No, I’ve been prospectin’ round these ‘ere diggin’s, but I
guess I won’t stay much longer. The court decided agin Steve Gibbons
an’ me. I think I’ll go back to Butte City afore long. She’s the
pertest minin’ camp in the ‘hull country.”
“You say the court has decided against you?” repeated Vance.
“Yes,” he replied, “Steve Gibbons an’ we had a law suit agin’
Rufus Grim over the Peacock. B. Webster Legal is a pretty cute lawyer,
an’ for a time he made it bilin’ hot for old Grim, but somehow on
the show-down we got done up. It don’t make much difference how cute a
feller’s lawyer is, when the court’s prejudiced all out o’ shape.
I sometimes think old Grim has a ‘nuf sight better title to the court
of this ‘ere district than he has to the Peacock mine.”
“Your friend Gibbons,” said Vance, “told me sonnies [169] thing of
this law suit, and I rather expected, with the assistance of an attorney
like B. Webster Legal, you would succeed in establishing your claim. You
have my sympathy if an injustice has been done you.”
“Oh, it wa’n’. no fault of Lawyer Legal, I can tell you, he’s
a hummer, and a mighty social chap in the bargain; but this ‘ere game
isn’t played to a finish yet, pardner, not by several great, big moves
on the chess board. You see, we’ve appealed it to the higher courts,
but they’re so dangnation slow that a feller had better get a hustle
on hisself while he’s waitin’ for a decision or he’ll starve.
When old Grim has his neck broken, honest people may then get their just
deserts.” He seemed dejected, and soon after took his leave, saying
that he was going into the mountains to do a little prospecting.
The Peacock mine was constantly increasing its output of the yellow
metal. Nearly every stage carried shipments of gold bullion to the
mints. Rufus Grim was growing richer and more pompous. His satellites
and admirers noticeably increased after the courts had decided in his
favor.
In the meantime the pumps in Gray Rocks had broken down and delayed the
work several weeks. Vance was in a state of feverish anxiety. He longed
to be relieved from the mental strain and know whether he was a half
owner in a gold mine that produced in paying quantities, or only a half
owner in a worthless shaft in the mountain side.
He retired one evening at an early hour, tired out and thoroughly
disgusted with his achievements in the west. He was awakened about two
o’clock in the morning by a great commotion going on below. Hastily
dressing himself, he went down to the bar-room, where he found
everything was wild with excitement. [170] The stage coach had
been robbed, and it was reported that Steve Gibbons was dead. Hasty
preparations were being made to form a posse and start in pursuit of the
highwaymen.
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The express company had some heavy consignments of gold bullion sent
from the Peacock mine, and it was reported missing. Vance signified his
willingness to join in the pursuit, and was furnished with a horse, and
soon after they started pell-mell down the mountain road from Gold Bluff
in the direction of Waterville, to the point where the robbery had taken
place.
Rufus Grim offered $1,000 for the capture of the perpetrators, which,
together with a large sum offered by the express company, stimulated a
feverish interest in the chase.
The sun was just coming up when they reached the place where the robbers
had sallied forth from a neighboring mountain gorge the morning before
and committed their lawless work. About two miles beyond, they found the
only two passengers of the ill-fated stage coach. A gentleman and his
wife from the east had been visiting Colonel Boast, the rich rancher
who lived near Gold Bluff, and were returning to their eastern home. The
gentleman had been relieved of his wallet, containing some $2,000, also
his watch, diamond pin, and his wife of her jewelry. They were left in
a destitute condition, and were waiting to take the next stage back to
Gold Bluff to secure such aid from Colonel Boast as would enable them to
continue their homeward journey.
They said there were [171] five of the robbers. When they commanded
Steve Gibbons to stop, he whipped up his horses, and received a bullet
through his body for his attempted bravery. He fell from the stage coach
and sustained serious injuries.
0179
The robbers quickly stopped the horses, relieved the two passengers
of their possessions, secured the express matter and started for the
mountain wilds, taking with them the four dapple-gray horses that Steve
Gibbons had prided himself so much in driving.
Gibbons had been carefully cared for by the mountain rancher and his
wife, where the two passengers were [172] stopping. A physician had been
sent for and dressed his wounds. He said Gibbons would get well; the
bullet had struck a rib and glanced off.
After learning these meager details, the posse pushed on into the
mountains in hot pursuit. They were under command of the sheriff of the
county. The trail of the desperadoes was easily followed. Along in the
afternoon, the sheriff called a halt for refreshments. The horses were
tethered with lariats to some trees that grew near a mountain stream,
and permitted to graze while the men refreshed themselves with lunches
which they had brought along.
“We’re twenty-four hours behind the rascals,” said the sheriff,
“and I don’t know whether we’ll overtake them or not.” Some of
the men were eager to go on, and others were ready to give up the chase.
After a rest of an hour or such a matter, the order was given to again
mount, and the trail was followed until darkness set in. Sleeping on the
ground with the starry canopy for a covering was a new experience for
Vance, but he was determined not to show the white feather. What others
endured he would endure.
About ten o’clock the next morning, they came to a mountain gorge and
followed the trail to a point where it seemed quite impossible for a
horseman to ascend, it was so steep and rugged. The sheriff and a few of
his men dismounted and went on ahead, looking for the trail. They found
horses’ tracks, but where could they have gone? The grass was deep and
heavy in the center of the gulch, and fringed with trees and boulders
on either side. Finally the sheriff returned and reported the trail as
lost. [173] “They have evidently come into this ‘pocket’ of a canon
to throw us off their trail. We will have to return to the mouth of the
gorge and see in what other direction the trail leads.”
The afternoon was spent in searching for the lost trail. Night overtook
the party again, and rations were very short. Their meal was a frugal
one, and far from satisfying the hunger of men who had ridden hard all
day. The horses were securely fastened and the party lay down to
sleep. Vance made his bed on some bunch grass that grew under the
wide-spreading branches of a mountain pine. He could plainly hear the
rippling of a stream which ran near by, and when deep silence settled
down over the landscape, save the occasional snort of one of the horses,
the singing of the stream grew louder and louder. The smell of pine
added to the deliciousness of his novel and strange surroundings.
Weariness soon overcame the discomforts of his improvised bed, and he
sank to sleep. Suddenly he awoke in the middle of the night, but found
everyone else was deep in slumber, save the two guards that had been
left on duty a few yards from the camp. The stars were winking at him
from above; a wolf was howling a dismal cadence, and was answered by
another far away in a different direction. An owl hooted its discordant
strain from the dead branch of a tree a short distance away.
He closed his eyes, and thought of the wonderful change that a few
months had brought into his life; but these thoughts one after another
vanished; and still other fancies went pell-mell through his imagination
in the panorama of thought. Presently a face appeared on this mental
canvas—so sweet, so tender, so trusting, and [174] wreathed in
that smile he knew so well. He started, opened his eye and murmured,
“Louise.”
The wolf howled again in the distance, and he thought he detected a
snappish twang in its concluding barks, and wondered if it foreboded
danger. Occasionally one of the horses would snort and stamp on the
ground, and then go on munching, munching, the grass on which they were
feeding. Finally he dozed again and slept. He thought it was only a
moment afterward, when someone shook his shoulder and told him to get
up. He opened his eyes and found it was morning.
He hastily sprang up and found there was considerable excitement among
his associates. The sheriff was missing. About a half hour later he came
into camp and said he had been out looking for the trail, but could find
nothing of it. He said they might as well return home.
Vance was not sorry of this decision, for he was hungry and tired and
sore. There were mutterings, however, among some of the sheriff’s
posse, and they whispered among themselves as if they suspected their
chief of crooked work.
It took them two days to return to Gold Bluff. They found Steve Gibbons
at the hotel, and able to sit up. The robbers had all worn masks, and
it was impossible for him to give a description of any of them. The
representative of the express company was evidently disappointed that
the sheriff had not been able to find the desperadoes; $10,000 of gold
bullion had been stolen, as well as other valuable express matter.
A few days later, Steve Gibbons declared that he was able to resume his
place on the stage coach, but it transpired that two of his bondsmen
had asked to be relieved [175] This was an insinuation that some one
regarded him as an accomplice in the unfortunate stage robbery. He
investigated and found it was Rufus Grim who had advised two of his
bondsmen to be a little careful. During the day, through Vance’s
assistance, Gibbons succeeded in giving a satisfactory bond.
That evening, a little the worse for drink, he accosted Rufus Grim at
the post office, where the Gold bluff villagers were wont to congregate
on the arrival of the evening coach.
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Steve Gibbons was evidently the agressor. “Look’ee here, Mr.
Grim,” said Steve Gibbons, approaching him, “you’ve been
interferin’ with me for a good many years, and it’s time you was
lettin’ up.”
“I don’t know, Mr. Gibbons,” said Grim, “that I have ever
interfered with you. I have plenty of business of my own to look after,
without bothering with other people’s.”
“That’s all right, pardner,” said Gibbons, “but there’s
somebody likely to wish they’d never been born if they don’t quit
foolin’ with me. You advised some of my bondsmen to take their names
off from the bond, but I’ve got other friends, and jes’ as many of
‘em as you have, and don’t you forget it!”
“There must be some mistake, Mr. Gibbons,” said Grim, very coolly.
“I know,” said Gibbons, “jes’ what I’m talkin’ about. You
have tried to infer that I was mixed up in the robbery of the stage
coach, and I say you are an unprincipled old scoundrel, and a liar in
the bargain. If I was as strong as I was before I was shot, I’d maul
the [176] earth with you. You stole the Peacock mine from Hank Casey
an’ me, an’ I’ve my suspicions that you bought judge and jury to
beat us in our law suit.”
One would have thought that Grim would have become very angry, but
instead, he tried to pacify the irate and angry Steve Gibbons. It seemed
to anger Gibbons beyond description that he could not disturb the even
temper of Rufus Grim, and finally, in a burst of anger at Grim,
Gibbons said: “You’d better have your life insured, old man, for
somebody’s goin’ to be revenged, and the day of judgment ain’t
very far ‘way, nuther.”
At this threat, Grim turned quickly and reached for his revolver.
Gibbons was unarmed. A moment later, Grim seemed to master himself, and
turning away, walked down the street.
Hank Casey put his arm through Steve Gibbon’s and led him to the
hotel. Gibbons was hilarious, but Casey felt that in his hilarity he had
been very indiscreet. The next morning, however, he mounted the stage
coach on his regular run between Gold Bluff and Waterville.