THE FIGHT AT THE MINE.
As the auto came near, the shots became more distinct. It seemed as if
a small-sized battle was in progress. Jerry stopped the car about a
thousand feet away from where the camp had been.
"Take it easy until we see where we're at," advised the sheriff.
"There's too many bullets flyin' around for comfort."
He got out of the machine and began creeping along on the ground on
hands and knees. His deputies followed his example, and Jerry thought it
well to do likewise.
It was soon evident that an attack was being made on the hill, where
the forces of Nestor seemed to have entrenched themselves. Stoneham,
Dalsett, Berry and Pender were drawing nearer under cover of the
underbrush and were firing as they advanced. Nestor and his crowd were
replying with shot after shot, though most of the bullets were high in
the air.
"If I could only get a line on where they are," muttered the sheriff,
"I'd be all right, but I can't see a thing in these bushes."
All at once the firing from the top of the hill ceased.
"I guess they're out of ammunition," said Jerry. "They didn't have very
much when I came away."
"Then it's time we did somethin'," remarked the sheriff. "There, I see
'em now. Come on, boys!"
The two deputies followed him on the run, and Jerry kept as close as he
could.
Suddenly the sheriff came to a halt. He motioned with his hand for the
others to keep quiet. Then the officer began creeping at a slow pace. He
halted once more and waved to the others to approach. They did so with
all the caution possible.
"We've got 'em!" exclaimed the sheriff. "Pud Stoneham and the rest of
'em are down in a little hollow just below us. They are gettin' ready to
make a rush, I think."
Peering over the edge of a little bluff on which the sheriff's party
stood, Jerry looked down and saw the gambler, Bill Berry and Jack
Pender, each with a revolver, crouching down and peering forward. They
were within a few hundred feet of the shaft, and Jerry could dimly
observe Nestor and his friends grouped about the mine.
They seemed to be making a last stand. The truth of the matter was that,
as Jerry had surmised, they were out of ammunition and could no longer
reply to the fusillade that Stoneham and his crowd kept up. For a time
there was a lull in the firing.
Then the shots began again, coming from Stoneham, Berry and Pender. But
they did not seem to be aiming to kill or even wound those guarding the
mine. Desperate as the gambler was, and great as was his wish to get
the gold claim, he would not resort to extreme measures. So he and the
others were firing over the heads of those they were attacking. They
hoped to scare them away.
If they could do this, and rush in, securing possession of the claim,
they would, under the mining laws, provided that Noddy had filed the
claim, be masters of the situation. But something was about to happen.
The sheriff was watching Stoneham like a cat. The gambler and his
friends were unaware how close they were to danger, and continued to
fire above the heads of the party at the shaft.
From their point of vantage the sheriff, his deputies and Jerry watched
what was going on below them. They saw Nestor, Broswick and the others
waver, for the firing was hot, and they did not know it was a harmless
one.
"Come on!" yelled Stoneham, suddenly. "We've got 'em! Come on, an' take
the mine!"
The gambler leaped to his feet, flourishing his revolver. Pender, Berry
and Dalsett prepared to follow him.
"No, you don't!" cried the sheriff.
The officer leaped forward, over the bluff, and shot downward. Full and
true he fell, right on the back of Stoneham, bearing him to the earth.
"I say! What's this? Oh, let me up!" yelled the gambler.
"Not until I've fixed you so's you can't do any damage!" exclaimed the
officer, drawing out a pair of handcuffs and fastening them on Stoneham.
The gambler struggled hard for a few seconds. Then, finding it was of no
avail, he lay quietly at the sheriff's feet.
"Where'd you come from?" he asked the officer.
"Oh, I took a little run up here in one of them new-fangled gasolene
gigs," replied the sheriff, with a grin. "I heard you were up here an' I
felt I couldn't get along without havin' a little conversation with you."
"Um!" grunted Stoneham.
Dalsett disappeared into the bushes at the instant the sheriff had
jumped on the gambler's back, and was soon lost to sight.
"Never mind him," said the officer, when he saw that capture was not
possible. "I didn't want him, anyhow. It was Pud I was after, an' I got
him."
"What'll we do with this lad?" asked one of the deputies who had grabbed
Pender.
"Pl-pl-please don't ki-kill me!" cried the boy, a coward, now that his
side had lost.
"Kill you!" exclaimed the sheriff. "The worst that'll happen to you will
be a good spankin'. That's what we do to babies out here!"
Pender showed no inclination to escape, nor did Bill Berry, who stood
sullenly to one side.
"Get up!" the sheriff commanded Stoneham, and the gambler struggled to
his feet. His air of bravado was gone and he hung his head. "I'll take
you back to town in a little while," the officer announced.
There was a crackling in the bushes and, cautiously parting them, Nestor
stepped into view.
"What's happened?" he asked Jerry.
"It's all right," replied the boy. "I filed the claim, I beat Noddy, and
this is the sheriff, who has arrested Mr. Stoneham."
"Good for you!" cried the miner. "We've been havin' a pretty lively time
since you went away, an' you got back just in time. So the papers are
filed, eh? Well, that gives us the mine now, an' we're all rich!"
"I'd rather have Mr. Stoneham here than a gold mine," remarked the
sheriff.
"Is he so valuable?" asked Nestor.
"He is to me," was the answer. "There's a reward of five thousand
dollars for his capture for counterfeitin' money, an' besides that
he's wanted on half a dozen charges. When I heard he was here, I jest
hustled, I tell you."
It was getting dusk now, and, after a little thought, the sheriff
decided not to take his prisoner back to town that night.
"If you don't mind, I'll camp out here with you," the officer said to
Nestor, and the miner extended a hearty invitation. Soon supper was
prepared and partaken of sitting around the camp-fire.
Stoneham's hands were unshackled long enough to enable him to eat, but
the sheriff guarded him closely. He was not going to have his captive
escape if he could help it. Pender and Berry ate in dogged silence.
After supper, when the men had lighted their pipes, Nestor told the
sheriff the story of the trip to the gold mine. The official was much
interested.
"It's a good thing you have the claim to your mine filed," he said.
"I understand there's a great rush of diggers this way. They were at
Eagleville yesterday, a town about twenty miles from here, and I expect
they'll be stragglin' in here to-morrow. Whenever there's news of a gold
strike the miners are on the trail like a hound after a fox."
The moon rose over the trees and made the glow of the camp-fire seem
like a tallow candle beside an electric light. The forest was flooded
with the radiance and it was almost as bright as day.
"I could almost go out and gather some specimens," remarked Professor
Snodgrass, who had said little since the exciting events of the
afternoon.
"What do you want most?" asked the sheriff.
"I'd like to get--look out, there! Don't move for the life of you! Wait
until I get my net!" cried the professor, suddenly, staring at something
close to the officer.
"What is it, a rattlesnake?" asked the sheriff, somewhat alarmed at the
professor's excitement.
"Don't move! Don't move!" was all the naturalist replied.
"Well, if it's a snake you can bet your boots I won't stir until you've
got it," answered the sheriff. "I seen a man bit by one once and he
didn't last half an hour. But say, my friend, don't be any longer than
you can help. It's sort of a strain on my nerves, you know."
"Softly! Easy!" spoke the professor.
He had his net now and was tiptoeing up to where the officer sat, close
beside Stoneham.
"There!" cried the professor, slapping the meshes down on the ground.
"I've got him!"
"Have you got the rattlesnake?" asked Jerry.
"Rattlesnake?" inquired the naturalist, gathering something carefully
in the folds of the net. "Who said anything about a snake? I've just
captured a white lizard, one of the rarest that exists. It's worth one
thousand dollars."
"Well," exclaimed the sheriff, "it nearly scared me to that amount, the
way you acted. I thought sure I was goin' to be hit by a snake."
After the excitement, unintentionally caused by the professor, had
quieted down, and he had put his lizard away with his other specimens,
it was voted time to turn in. Blankets were brought from the automobile
to serve as coverings, and the fire was replenished.
In order to be sure his prisoner would not escape, the sheriff tied
Stoneham to a big tree. As an additional precaution the officer passed
one end of the rawhide thong about his own arm, so that the slightest
movement on the gambler's part would be noted.
Then Nestor, who agreed to take the first watch, began pacing up and
down in front of the camp, while the others fell asleep.