THE LOST GOLD.
It was but a short walk to the place where Jack had left the stranger,
and in a few moments they saw him sitting in front of the door. Hugh
stopped in front of him, looked at him closely and said: "Well, Bat, how
are you?"
"All right Casse-tête. And you?"
"It's a long time since you lost your charger, friend," said Hugh.
"Ah, yes," said Baptiste, "I never shall have another one as good. The
one you saw me make and that the boy has on his shirt, was good for
nothing. I have had no luck since I lost the old one. At first things
went well, and I thought I should be rich, but soon trouble came, and
has been coming ever since."
"How did you lose the charger?" said Hugh.
"That morning when I left the fort, I went north to the big lakes and
trapped along them, and one day, on one of the little streams, I found a
piece of gold; a small piece as large as my finger nail. I began to look
for more, and to wash the bars, and there, for a little while and in one
place, I found much gold. I stayed there until my grub gave out and my
ammunition too, for in crossing a stream my animal fell and wet my
powder. I started to come in for supplies, and one day, as I was
travelling along, the Indians jumped me and I had to run. They had cut
me off from the fort, and I ran east keeping ahead of them during the
day, but at night they would catch up. At last, when I was southeast of
the Bear Paws, my horses were getting tired and the Indians came so
close to me, that they began to shoot. I had but a few charges left in
my horn, and couldn't fight. Finally, they came so close that they
killed my pack animal, and an arrow went through my shoulder. One or two
of them had guns and kept shooting at me, but they did not hit me; they
crowded me though, and now I had to run to the river to hid in the
breaks, where I could slip away on foot without being trailed.
"This I did, but when I got in among the _mauvaises terres_, the Indians
stopped behind, and then I found that my gold, which I had been running
to save, was gone. I had had it on my saddle, and a ball had cut the
strings and it had dropped off; also my horse had been wounded and could
travel no more, and I was bleeding and growing weak. Along the shore I
found a drift log, and that night, tying my gun to it, I pushed it off
into the deep water and got on it, and floated down the stream.
"That was the last I knew for a long time. When I next had sense, I was
in the camp of two trappers at the mouth of the stream, they call
'Judith.' They told me, that one day, weeks before, they had seen
something queer coming down the stream, and at length, saw that it was a
man on a log; one of the men swam out with a rope and brought the stick
to shore, and me with it. But they said I was crazy. They said, too,
that I had many wounds that I had not known of and one of them was a cut
on the head where a ball had glanced.
"Since that time my mind is no longer good. Sometimes, for a long time,
I don't know anything. Sometimes I can't remember the things that
happened yesterday, but the old things, those that happened before that
time, I remember well; and so it is, Casse-tête, that I know you, even
if your hair is white; but I have always thought of you as young and
strong and a breaker-in of bulls' heads;" and the old man laughed
pleasantly.
Jack and Joe did not understand everything of what was said, but Hugh,
as he listened to this story, seemed to become very grave and sad.
"And what do you do now, Baptiste?" he asked. "We no longer trap beaver.
How do you live?"
"Sometimes I ask myself that question, friend," Baptiste replied, "and I
do not always know how to answer it. In the summer, when the boats are
loading, sometimes I help to pack the robes. Sometimes, when the furs
are brought in, they get me to come and help them look at them and say
what they are worth; in that way I earn a little money, and my friend
here, who owns this house, is kind to me. I sleep here always and
sometimes when he goes away, I stay and answer questions for him."
"Friend," said Hugh, "when these Indians were chasing you, and when at
last you turned to the river, did you have your charger with you?"
"I don't know," said Baptiste, "I did not know it was lost until I got
well in the camp at the mouth of the Judith; then I saw it was gone."
"And do you know when you lost your gold?"
"I don't know," said Baptiste. "When my mule fell, and I turned to run
straight for the river, the gold was still on my saddle; before I got to
the edge of the breaks, a bullet struck the horse, or the saddle, and
when I stopped near the river the gold was gone. I can tell you no more
than that."
"But, Bat," said Hugh, "did you never go back there to look for it?"
"I went back," said Lajeunesse, "but I could never find the place. When
I got near it, things were always confused in my mind and I could see
nothing that I knew again, although I had travelled over the country
many times, and knew it well."
"Listen to me, friend," said Hugh, "Not long ago, these two young men
and I were down in that same country. We found, close together, a mule
that had been killed long ago with an arrow, this charger," touching the
gold on Jack's breast, "and an old buckskin sack full of gold. It may be
that these things were yours."
"That is curious," said Lajeunesse. "The charger was mine for I know it
well, perhaps the mule also was mine, but about the gold, who can tell.
Perhaps it was mine, perhaps another's."
"Oh! Hugh," burst out Jack, unable longer to contain himself. But Hugh
raised his hand for silence, and Jack stopped, though he was eager to
try to prove to Lajeunesse that the gold was his, and that none of them
had, or wished to have, any claim on it.
"As you say," said Hugh, "the gold may have belonged to any one; gold
dust is much alike and a buckskin sack in the course of years, rots and
disappears. Yet, after all, it seems likely that this may have been
yours, since it was found near other things that were yours, and since
you lost your gold at that place."
"Truly," said Lajeunesse, "it may have been mine, but it was lost long
ago and could not be found, and now if you men have found it, it is
yours."
"That is what we must now determine;" said Hugh. "We are here together,
four persons, the only four, so far as we can tell, that know anything
of this gold, or have a claim to it. Suppose, now, that we four were to
decide that the gold belonged to you, what would you do with it?"
"Truly," said Baptiste, "if it belonged to me, I should not know what to
do with it. I think I should give it to some one to take care of for me,
for since my head has been bad, I might lose it or forget where I had
put it, and then it would do me no good. If it belonged to you,
Casse-tête, what would you do with it?"
"Well, Bat, I'm good deal like you, I don't know what I would do with
it. I never had much money, not more than enough to buy supplies and
have a good time, and this is more than one would need for that." Hugh
stopped speaking, and thought for a little while and then said: "I'll
tell you what I think would be fair: Suppose we divide this gold in two
parts, and you take one part and the two boys will take the other; then
we'll put yours in the bank and they will hire it of you and pay you
rent for it as long as they keep it. I think they ought to pay you,
maybe forty or fifty dollars a month. If they'd pay you as much as that
and gave it to you every month, you'd get along all right, wouldn't
you?"
"Indeed, Casse-tête, I should think that I were rich if I had so much
money as that every month, but you see this gold is not mine, even if it
is the same gold that I lost; it has stopped being mine when I lost it.
If I had lost gold pieces on the prairie and you had found them, they
would be yours, and so it is with this dust. Why, then, should you make
me a present of one half of it?"
"Partly because I feel sure you lost it," said Hugh, "and partly on
account of old times; and partly because you now have nothing, though
twenty-five years ago, there was no man on the prairie that was richer
than Baptiste Lajeunesse."
"Truly," said Baptiste, "it is pleasant to think of the old times, and
to meet one who remembers them. I have thought of you many times,
Casse-tête, since I saw you last, and I am glad that we meet again. But
what about these young men?" he said. "They partly own this gold, what
do they say about giving it away?"
"Why," said Jack, "I say you ought to have it all, and not half of it,
as Hugh says." Joe said nothing, but smiled as if he agreed with Jack.
"Now," said Hugh, as he rose, "that gold was left at the bank; I'll go
up there and see that it is divided in two parts, and we'll find out
what the people there will pay you for the use of yours, then I will
come back here and let you know." Lajeunesse waved his hand, and they
went out.
On the way to the bank, Jack said, "But, Hugh, why didn't you make him
take all the gold?"
"Well, son," said Hugh, "you see, he had lost it for good and he never
would have heard of it again if you boys hadn't found it, and we hadn't
brought it in. I think that luck and that work entitles us to half of
it, but there is another thing more important than that. You see, the
old man has partly lost his mind, he isn't fit to take care of any
property, and if we would give him that sack of gold, it would be just
as he says; he'd leave it lying out on the sidewalk some time, and
somebody would pick it up and walk off with it, or he would put it down
somewhere and forget where he left it, or he'd give it away. It wouldn't
do him no good nor us neither. What I'm going to do is this, if you boys
agree; I'm going to deposit half these drafts that we got for the gold
to your credit but we'll see that the interest is paid to him every
month. Then as long as he stays here, he'll have a living and yet he
won't be able to spend the principal. Then if ever he dies the money
will be here to the credit of you two boys, one half to each."
"Well, but," said Jack, "suppose he's got any children or a wife?"
"Well," said Hugh, "he ain't got neither, without he's married since I
knew him and that ain't noways likely. But we can find out about that
anyhow."
When they reached the bank, Hugh explained the matter in detail to the
manager, who was an old resident of Fort Benton and knew Lajeunesse
well. One half the money was deposited in the name of Jack and Joe as
joint owners, the interest to be paid monthly at the rate of one and a
quarter per cent. per month to Lajeunesse. This would give him nearly
$50 a month. Returning to Baptiste, they told him what had been done,
and while he and Hugh were talking it over, Jack untied from his shirt
the gold charger and when the opportunity came, offered it to the old
man.
"There can't be any doubt," he said, "Mr. Lajeunesse, that this is
yours, for it is marked with your name and you should take it." The old
man smiled kindly as he took it in his hand and looked at it
thoughtfully, then he handed it back and said, "No, my friend, in these
days I don't use such things, and besides, it brought me bad luck. If
you like it, keep it always to remember a man to whom you were kind. I
shall think of you, Casse-tête, and of your boys, many times from this
on. Every month I shall have a good reminder of you."
They sat all day chatting together, Hugh and Baptiste doing most of the
talking, though sometimes they addressed the boys. About the middle of
the afternoon, Hugh rose, and shaking hands with Baptiste, said that it
was time to go. The two old friends walked slowly toward the stable,
while the boys ran ahead and found a wagon hitched up and their property
partly loaded in it. It was arranged that all the horses should be left
in Joe's care, to be kept in the Piegan camp, and that Hugh or Jack
would write him, to say what should be done with the stock; if he heard
nothing from them, he was to keep the animals until next summer, when it
was hoped Jack and Hugh would again go to the Piegan camp.
The ride down to the point where the steamboat was tied up was rather a
melancholy one. Jack and Joe sat together on the back seat not saying
much, but holding fast each other's hands. When the boat was reached,
all were busy for a little while transferring the goods to the deck and
then the captain came to Hugh and said, "Well, you got here just in
time; there's a little more water coming down to-day, and I'm going to
start now just as soon as we can cast off the lines."
"Well, Joe," said Jack, "I'm awful sorry to go, I've had the best time I
ever had in my life, and a good part has been owing to you. I'll never
forget you nor the Piegans, and if I possibly can, I'll come back again
next summer."
"Good-bye, my friend," said Joe, "I wish I were going with you, I hate
to have you leave me. I feel like crying. Come back next year if you
can."
"Hurry up," said Hugh, from the deck of the vessel, "they're casting off
the lines."
Jack turned and ran over the gang plank and stood beside Hugh, and as
the vessel passed out into the stream and slowly moved around the point,
the last things that he saw were the tall figure of the old trapper and
the slender one of the Indian boy, standing side by side with their
backs toward the sinking sun.
END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Jack Among the Indians, by George Bird Grinnell