THE PROFESSOR IN A RAGE
"What!" fairly exploded Professor Zepplin.
"Mr. Darwood accuses us of having followed him to find out where this
wonderful gold deposit is located. He thinks we want to steal it away
from him."
"Preposterous!"
"Show me some gold," urged Stacy, edging near. "I am looking for gold. I
don't make any bones about saying so, either."
"Be silent," commanded the Professor.
"I smelled smoke when I was out this morning," continued Butler. "I
followed the scent until I stumbled into Mr. Darwood's camp. It was his
signal smokes that we saw yesterday. Mr. Darwood did not give me a very
cordial welcome; he ordered me out of his camp. Not only that, but he
threatened me in case we persisted in following him. I think he would
have used his pistol on me if I had not gone away when I did."
"Is this true, Darwood?" questioned the Professor, who was restraining
himself with an effort.
"I reckon it's right, so far as it goes. I know what you fellows are up
to. You may think you can fool me, but I've been in these parts too long
to be an easy mark. It's nobody's business whether we are in search of
gold or whether we are up here for our health. Whatever our business is,
we don't propose to have a lot of folks sticking their noses into it."
"What do you propose that we shall do?" asked Professor Zepplin.
"I don't care what you do," roared the gold digger.
"Then there is nothing more to be said."
"Oh, yes there is. There's a lot to be said. I am not going to say it
all right here, but I reckon I'll say it in a different way later on.
You are following us. Don't deny it. I know you are. You pumped the
Captain and everybody else on the boat about us. Then, when you thought
you had got all the information you wanted, you followed us."
"It's not true. You know it's a lie!" shouted the Professor.
"Be careful how you nag me on," warned the miner.
"You know you think nothing of the kind. What is it that you reckon to
say at some other time?"
"This," answered Darwood, tapping his holster significantly.
Tad laughed softly to himself. This angered the gold digger more than
ever.
"You folks get out of these hills! Go anywhere you want to, but get out
and get out quick. Some more of my men are coming along to-day. If you
are here to-night it will be the worse for you," threatened the miner.
"Which direction would you suggest our taking?" asked Tad in a soothing
voice.
"Go back the way you came. I don't care where you go."
"You are not consistent," laughed the freckle-faced boy. "You tell us
you don't care where we go, then you order us to proceed in a definite
direction. You are going too far, Mr. Darwood. When you have had a
chance to cool down I think you will look at this matter in a different
light. If you will use your head a little you will see it is not
possible that we could have had any previous knowledge of your plans or
of your gold mine. You had better make friends with us. We might be of
some use to you. Professor Zepplin is a scientist. He could give you
valuable help. Shall we call quits and shake hands? Come on."
The words that he would utter seemed to stick in the gold digger's
throat. He clutched twice at his holster, but the evident desire on his
part to use his pistol appeared to have no effect at all on the Pony
Rider outfit. Darwood knew very well that drawing his weapon would
practically be the end of himself, and this did not tend to make his
situation any better.
"I'll not shake hands with you. I am going back to my camp. If you
thieves are here by to-night I promise you there will be something
doing. I--"
Professor Zepplin strode forward, his whiskers bristling, his fists
clenched. The boys never had seen their guardian so angry.
"That for your threats!" he roared, shaking a fist under the nose of
Curtis Darwood. "Your threats don't frighten us. Your pistol doesn't
frighten us. We're not that kind."
The miner started to reply.
"Don't you open your mouth or I shall forget myself and slap your face.
Thieves!" Professor Zepplin struggled to master his emotions. "Thieves!
This is too much. You tell us that if we are here to-night you will make
matters lively for us. If it will accommodate you any we will remain
right here. But we should be on our way. We are going to follow a
straight course as near as possible to the northwest. We shall, with
reasonable luck, be about twenty miles from here by eleven o'clock
to-night. If that is the direction you are going you will have no
difficulty in finding us. But let me warn you, sir, we shall put up with
no trifling. We have as good a right to be here as have you, and I am
not sure but that we have a better right."
"We'll see about that," retorted Darwood angrily.
"You let us alone! Do you hear? You let us alone! If you are looking for
trouble you may have all you want and then some more besides. We are
peaceable travelers, but we know from long experience how to take care
of ourselves. Have you anything more to say to me?" demanded the
Professor.
"I reckon not. I've said my say."
"Then get out before I forget myself and hit you on the nose!" roared
Professor Zepplin. "Don't you dare come fooling around our camp again,
and thank your lucky stars that Master Tad didn't make a mistake and
shoot lower. Are you going, or are you waiting for me to throw you out?"
fumed the Professor.
"I reckon I'm going. You'll hear from me again. Next time the shoe will
pinch the other foot."
"It will be the foot that kicks you out of camp in that case," answered
the Professor.
"Hooray!" howled the fat boy. "Three cheers for Professor Zip-zip!"
"Be silent!" thundered Professor Zepplin.
"Yes, you had better look out or he will take it out of you after Mr.
Darwood has gone," warned Tad. "The Professor is all stirred up."
The Professor was. Darwood turned and strode from the camp without
trusting himself to utter another word. Professor Zepplin strode back
and forth with clenched fists, muttering to himself for five minutes
after the departure of their guest.
"He called us thieves!" he exclaimed, halting and glaring angrily at
Stacy.
"Well, don't blame me for it," answered the fat boy.
"Professor, calm yourself," begged Tad. "Those men have met with a lot
of crookedness. You can't blame them. I shouldn't be surprised if some
other person had been trying to follow them since they have been out
this time. They probably think we are in league with the others to get
ahead of them in the discovery of this treasure."
"I don't believe there is any treasure," raged the Professor.
"As to that, of course, I can't say, but I should think it quite
probable that they had something definite. There must be something in
what they have to go on. They are not fools, but intelligent men. What
is more, they must think they are on the right track or they wouldn't
fly off the handle as Darwood has done to-day. What will you do?" asked
Tad.
"Do? Do? What do you think I am going to do?"
"Knowing you as I do, I should say you would go on as we have planned,"
answered Butler laughingly.
"Exactly! If that man thinks he can frighten us out of our course he
will find that he has made a grave mistake."
"Why didn't you punch him when you had the chance?" demanded Chunky.
"You could have hit him an awful wallop when his chin was in the air
that time."
"Stacy! You are a savage!" rebuked the Professor.
"Maybe, maybe," reflected the fat boy. "But judging from some things
that have occurred in this camp this morning, I'm not the only savage in
the outfit."
The boys laughed uproariously.
"That's one for you, Professor," chuckled Ned.
"Anvik! We break camp at once," fairly snapped the Professor.
"Gold man him heap fool," grunted the Indian.
"No, not that, Anvik. He is gold-mad like all the rest of them,"
corrected Butler. "I hope I never shall get that way."
"It can't be such bad fun to be gold-mad," argued Stacy, who usually
wanted the other side of an argument. "I'd like to try it once, if I
could find enough gold to make it interesting."
Camp was hastily broken that morning, for there was much lost time to be
made up. Everyone was eager to get started, anxious to find out what
would be the outcome of the dispute with the gold diggers.
"We don't know in what direction they're going to move, while they do
know our route," said Tad. "So it will be an easy matter for Darwood to
watch us as long as he wants to keep us in sight."
At seven o'clock that morning Professor Zepplin gave the word to "mush."
This morning the Professor was extremely silent, but there was a grim
look to the corners of his mouth.
Exciting experiences lay before them all. The boys felt it in the very
air about them. The certainty made them feel buoyant and exhilarated.
Surely this wild old Alaska was a great bit of country!
"I don't care how soon somebody starts something," mused Ned. "We have
our heavy artillery well on ahead."
As he spoke he gazed smilingly at the tight-jawed Professor, who never
looked to better advantage than when in warlike mood.