matter was settled, one way or other; and--heedless even of the welcome
addition of fresh meat to their scanty fare, in the fine wapiti that
they possessed through the precision of the young engineer's rifle,
which at another time would have roused equally their enthusiasm and
their appetites--remained grouped round impromptu log-fires that they
had lit to hail the absentees when they came back, looking to their arms
and ammunition so as to be ready for anything that might happen, and
considering amongst themselves as to what was best to be done in the
event of the non-arrival of the rescue party within a reasonable limit;
Seth fretting and worrying himself the while as much as any, although he
tried to preserve a quiet demeanour in order to reassure the rest, and
exclaiming against the "paltry wounds," as he called them--which gave
him much pain in spite of Jasper continually soaking the bandages around
them with cold water in pursuance of his directions--that prevented him
from taking an active part in his protege's recovery, instead of waiting
idly there while others went bravely to the fore, as he should have
done.
Be the night however weary, and watching long, the morning comes at
last:--thus it was now with the miners of Minturne Creek.
Daylight is a wonderful panacea for those gloomy thoughts and anxieties
which are nourished and magnified during the dark hours of the night;
so, when the sun arose next morning, after the weary watch of Seth and
the others, in the expectation that they might receive every moment the
news of some disaster to their comrades who had been gone so long,
instead of their fears being increased by the knowledge that the rescue
party had not yet returned, they felt inclined to take a much more
sanguine view of the situation--a view that Seth not only endorsed but
was the prime agent in promulgating, possibly through the pain of his
wounds having considerably lessened and caused him to look on things in
a more hopeful way.
"Tha'are all right b'ys, I reckon," said he. "No noos is good noos; fur
ef anythin' had kinder happen'd to 'em, we should have heert afore."
"So thinks I," said Tom Cannon; "and let's set to work agin, mates, at
the shaft, to let the boss see, when he comes back, that we ha'n't been
idle in his absence; p'raps, too, we'll have something to show him in
the gold line, as I don't think as how we're far off the lode now."
"That's yer sort," echoed Seth, from amidst the pile of buffalo rugs
alongside one of the fires in the open space before the hut, where he
would persist in staying, to be the first to receive the rescue party on
their return, and where he said he could nurse his injuries far better
than going to bed in the anxious frame of mind he was in. "That's yer
sort, b'ys! Tackle to the job with a will, my hearties; it'll be a
durned sight better nor restin' on your oars and doin' nothin', as I'm
forced to do, like the battered old hulk I am!"
These cheery words from Tom Cannon and Seth had the desired effect of
restoring a little more activity to the scene around the creek; and the
small band of the remaining miners, dividing their attenuated forces
into two gangs and taking short shifts turn about at intervals, worked
with such praiseworthy diligence, that when Mr Rawlings and the other
adventurers arrived in safety near mid-day, escorting the recovered
Sailor Bill scatheless in triumph back to the camp, they had got through
a surprising amount of work. The tubbing had been put into position two
days before, and had been found to act admirably; the water had been
pumped out, and the men at work were driving to the left, as Ernest
Wilton thought that they were at present only on the wall of the lode,
which was a very strong one, and that it would be found much richer upon
the other wall.
As soon as mutual congratulations had been interchanged amongst the
leaders, and the joy of the whole party at being once more reunited had
somewhat subsided, Tom Cannon, and one of the leading miners who had
been last down the new shaft, approached the spot where Mr Rawlings,
Ernest Wilton, and Noah Webster were grouped, chatting together, with
Seth--behind whom Sailor Bill had taken up his usual place, on his
return to camp, with his customary apathetic air, the boy not exhibiting
the slightest increase of animation, despite all the excitement and
unwonted scenes through which he had recently passed, or any return to
that sudden change of demeanour, almost amounting to a fit of frenzy,
which he had again displayed for an instant, as Seth asserted, when he
interposed to save his life from the onslaught of the savage, on the
prairie, as he had done when he came forward in a similar way to rescue
him on board the _Susan Jane_ on the ship's being taken aback the
previous year.
"I guess thaar's sunthin' up now," said Noah Webster, as the two men
came towards him and the others, noticing a slight assumption of mystery
on the part of Tom Cannon and his companion, a man who was familiarly
styled "Left Bower" amongst the miners, from the fact not only of his
surname being Bower, but on account of the singular dexterity he
exhibited in the great American card game of euchre.
"Guess so," said Seth, sotto voce. "They've been downright busy since
you've been gone, workin' like hosses, that they have! Waal, b'ys," he
added aloud for the benefit of the coming deputation, "what's the rumpus
neow? Panned out anythin' tall?"
"See!" said Tom Cannon, opening his closed fist and displaying a little
tiny heap of gold dust lying in the palm of his hand. "All that came
out o' one lump o' quartz taken out of the gravel in the heading we've
begun. We can see it everywhere in the rock, and it was getting richer
every inch we got in."
"Ay," put in Left Bower, "heaps, I reckon, boss," addressing himself to
Mr Rawlings, who turned as pale at the receipt of the news as if he
were going to faint. "We've struck the lode at last, mister, and run
slick inter a bonanza if ever they were one; may I never see Frisco
again, if we haven't!"
"Hooray!" shouted Seth, attempting to rise and wave his hat as he was
wont to do in moments of triumph, but quickly quieting down again as the
pain of his foot reminded him of having been wounded. "Didn't I say
so--ask any a one in camp if I didn't--that we'd find the gold at last?
Hooray!" he repeated aloud at the pitch of his voice, his cheer being
taken up instantly by the main body of the miners, who were gossiping in
front of Josh's caboose, with a heartiness that resounded through the
valley and even made the hills echo again; while Jasper, who had been
under a sort of cloud ever since his cowardly conduct on the prairie,
joined Josh in an exciting pas a deux before the latter's culinary
sanctum, and repeating ever and anon his jubilant song, "Golly, massa,
um told yer so!"
"And you are not through the vein yet?" asked Ernest Wilton when he was
able to speak calmly, he and Mr Rawlings hurrying towards the head of
the new workings in company with Noah Webster and the first discoverers
of the ore; the rest of the miners following after at a distance; eager
to set to work again at once as soon as their leaders should give orders
to that effect. Seth, seeing himself thus deserted, and not wishing to
be "left out in the cold," therefore requisitioned the aid of the two
darkeys, and made them carry him in the rear of the procession, which
put a summary stop to their dancing, but delighted them equally as well,
for they were thus enabled to learn all that was going on without the
annoyance of having their ears perchance boxed for listening without
permission: consequently there was a general move all round.
"No sign of the other wall," said Tom Cannon as spokesman, "we're nigh
four feet in from the bottom of the shaft. The richest is that near the
river."
"That is just what we expected from the statement of Mr Rawlings'
original discoverer. He found it rich in the little shaft he sank
there, and that is at the point where the two lodes run into each other.
I expect we shall find it richer every foot we go in that direction.
If so, it will be one of the richest finds we know of."
So saying, Ernest, full of eagerness and expectation, was lowered away
into the mine by the men. He did not stop very long below the surface;
and on his return his face seemed to glow with the goods news he
brought.
"It's all right," he gasped out, almost before he got out of the shaft;
"you've hit on the richest lode I ever saw in my experience. We ought
to get tons of gold out of that quartz. We have just struck the centre
of a pocket, I think, which must extend to the old workings of your
cousin Ned. Mr Rawlings, I congratulate you; your luck has changed at
last, and if all turns out as I expect, you'll be the wealthiest man in
Dakota!"
"Hooray, b'ys!" shouted out Seth, almost choking poor Josh and Jasper by
gripping their necks with his muscular arms in his excitement, the
darkeys supporting him, as if in a chair with their hands clasped
beneath him, on which he sat with his arms resting on their shoulders,
although he now shifted his hold unwittingly to their necks. "Hooray!
I sed the Britisher were the b'y for us; an' so he air!"
STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY.
INDIAN ALARMS.
The men now worked with unflagging vigour. The cross-cut was first
pushed across the vein, which was found to extend thirteen feet beyond
the side of the shaft. It was not unbroken quartz, as here and there
the rock came in, but seemed to consist of four separate veins, which
sometimes joined together, sometimes were separated by partitions of
rock. The richest portion of the vein was two feet from the farthest
wall, and here the gold was everywhere thickly scattered through the
quartz. Now, they drove right and left along the course of the lode,
and found that in both directions the walls were coming closer together.
"It is only a pocket," Ernest Wilton said. "You will see that in about
five fathoms either way the quartz will finish in to its usual width,
and become poor. However, we must not mind that; if it holds for a few
fathoms in depth there will be half a million pounds' worth at least.
Twenty tons of quartz like this we see would suffice to make us all rich
men, and we know that there is double that at least."
As the young engineer predicted, the lode fell away to its original
width, and soon ceased to carry visible gold.
Then they began to sink deeper. Twenty feet lower the walls of the lode
again began to approach each other, and there was now a possibility of
calculating the amount of quartz in the "pocket."
"I am of opinion," Ernest Wilton said, "that there will be fifty tons of
the richest stuff, and nearly two hundred of what I may call second
class, but which is still exceedingly rich. But it is time now that we
should carry out our plans. We must get up a small mill with five
stamps, with a wheel to be worked by water from the mountain stream. It
is likely enough that such a set could be got in one of the
mining-camps, and I must make a short journey to Bismark and perhaps
further west in search of gear. While I am away, the men will have to
cut a leet to bring the water along the side of the hill from the
torrent, and get all the quartz out of the mine."
All this time, however, even with the confident expectation of untold
wealth being now almost within his grasp, not one of the party had
forgotten the parting threat of Rising Cloud, and his warning that, ere
many months were over, the camp at Minturne Creek would be assailed by
the Sioux tribe in full force.
Indeed, if Mr Rawlings or Seth, or Noah especially, who had had such a
long experience of the dangers of backwoods life away from the
settlements, and thoroughly appreciated the old adage that "he who is
forewarned is forearmed," were at all inclined to laugh at the Indian's
declaration as an empty boast, many circumstances would have constrained
them to alter their opinion, and make them be prepared for anything that
might happen.
In the first place, a stage used to run from Bismark to the Black Hills
at stray intervals, when they first camped at Minturne Creek--although
it did not come within some miles of their own valley--and continued
running until the winter set in; but when the spring developed, and the
roads got in working order again, no stage was to be met with; and
rumour had it that it had been "frightened off the track by the Injuns."
In the early months of summer this rumour received additional
confirmation by the arrival of some scouts from the settlements, with
the news that the Sioux had declared war against the United States
authorities, and that all the outlying settlers had been warned to
withdraw into the townships, where they could join together and resist
any attack made on them.
And, later still, a special messenger from one of the military stations
on the Missouri, where "Uncle Sam's" troops were quartered, brought them
word that intelligence had been received that Rising Cloud had published
his intention of attacking the Minturne Creek miners especially, and
that his band of warriors had already started on the war-path--although
the commander of the detachment at Fort Warren assured them that he was
following up the Indians, and would revenge them should they happen to
get "wiped out" before he came up with the redskins!
This, naturally, was no very cheering intelligence; but the miners were
not discouraged, although they took every wise precaution so that their
wary foe should not catch them napping; and so, whether they were
working in the mine or went hunting--as they did more frequently when
the buffalo came northwards later on, led from the southern plains,
which form their more common habitat throughout the year, by the rich
blue grass, and other prairie delicacies which these bovine beasts
loved, that flourished among the valleys of the Black Hills; or whether
they were digging in the kitchen garden that Josh and Jasper had
improvised at the back of the little hut where they all lived--every man
went armed or had his arms handy. In addition to this, sentinels were
posted through the day at the entrance of the Creek, to warn them of the
approach of any suspicious strangers to the camp; while Seth caused as
rigid a watch to be kept at night, taking the first and fourth turns
himself, as if he were still a first mate with the responsibilities of a
ship on his hands and walking the deck of the _Susan Jane_.
STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
THE WAR-WHOOP.
Having levelled the line for the watercourse, Ernest Wilton prepared for
his journey.
The news of the Indian raids made travelling very dangerous, and Mr
Rawlins's urged Ernest to let him go in his stead. But to this Ernest
strongly objected, advancing all sorts of reasons but the right one
against Mr Rawlings starting for Bismark, stating amongst other
arguments that if the worthy leader of the party went, the miners might
think he was running away from the Creek for fear of the Indians
attacking them.
"No, no, my boy!" laughed Mr Rawlings; "you cannot wheedle me by using
such an argument as that, Wilton! It is too absurd, for the miners know
me too well for that, and so do you; besides, it is far more perilous to
venture out into the open, as you are about to do, than to remain here,
where, united together as we are in a phalanx of stout, able-bodied men,
in an almost impregnable position, we could resist any formidable attack
in force. No, no, my boy; you may tell that to the marines. But do
inform me, Wilton, what is your real motive in wishing to go yourself?
I consent certainly to your going, as you press the matter; but I should
like to know your ulterior object, if only to satisfy my curiosity."
"Well," said Ernest, laughing too, "I didn't like to tell you at first
for fear of wounding your sensibilities. To tell you the truth, I think
I am more competent to get what I want than you are, as, if I do not see
any of the things I require exactly, I may be able to pick up makeshifts
that will answer my purpose as well, while you would be trying to
procure impossibilities, perhaps, just because I mentioned them in the
list of my requirements, and would be satisfied with nothing else."
"Very good, have your way," said Mr Rawlings, satisfied with the reason
advanced, and handing the young engineer at the same time a roll of
greenbacks that represented all his available capital. "But you must be
economical in your purchases, my boy. This is all the money I can spare
you for your expenses and everything. I think you had better take a few
rich specimens with you, and should your funds run short they may give
you credit if you tell them you have fifty tons of it ready for the
mill."
"All right," said Ernest cheerfully, pocketing the parcel, and making an
inward resolution the while to supply any deficiency in that respect
from his own funds--which, indeed, was his true motive for undertaking
the commission in person, although he concealed it from Mr Rawlings;
for he was aware that the latter had got near the end of his resources,
and would have been indignant if he had offered to be his temporary
banker in order to buy all that was now needed for the mine, which he
had made up his mind to be, whether he liked it or not, without his
knowing it; and he chuckled to himself as he told Mr Rawlings that the
money would do amply.
"I suppose, Wilton, you'll take the waggon and a team of mules with you
to bring back the things, eh?" said Mr Rawlings presently, as the young
engineer began making his preparations for starting.
"Yes," said Ernest, "and shall have to hire four or five others; but I
need only have them with me as far as Fort Bennett on the Missouri,
where, as I pointed out to you just now, I can get a passage in one of
the river steamers right up to Bismark, and the same way back with all
my purchases. Why, Mr Rawlings, you must have come here by almost as
roundabout a route as I did from Oregon! You told me that you took a
month getting to Minturne Creek with your mining plant and other goods,
dragging them, I suppose, the whole distance from the railway depot
across the plains, instead of taking advantage of the waterway as I am
going to do now."
"That is very true," answered the other. "But Moose said it was the
best way, and I allowed him to shape his own course."
"He'll have to shape mine now!" said Ernest dryly; and the same day he
and the half-breed, with the valiant Josh in charge of the waggon and a
ten-mule team, started for Fort Bennett, a distance of some hundred and
forty miles from the camp, which they accomplished within three days,
not meeting with any obstruction in the shape of Indians on the road.
At this station Ernest left Moose with the waggon and mules, while he
took passage for himself and Josh in one of the steam-boats which ply
along the rolling waters of the Missouri to the large town on its banks
above, that may now be called the capital of Dakota.
At Bismark he was fortunate enough to hear of some machinery which would
exactly suit him; it had been sent west for a mine, which before it
arrived had proved so poor that it was abandoned, and the wheel and
stamps were now for sale. He also laid in some stores, besides a
quantity of gunpowder, and lead for bullets, which he thought would come
in handy for the Indians should they lay siege to Minturne Creek.
When he knew the weight of the goods, he sent word down the river to
Moose at Fort Bennett, and the latter hired five additional waggons and
teams, which were all in readiness when he arrived by steamer with the
machinery. Everything was soon packed up, and the little party tracked
back to the camp, having been but twenty days away altogether.
"You air smart!" said Seth, who was the first to welcome Ernest on his
arrival, the ex-mate having now quite recovered from his wounds, and
"hopping about on his pins," as he expressed it, "as merrily as ever,"
himself again in every particular. "You air smart, mister! I guess
you're the slickest coon I ever seed for makin' tracks--Jerusalem, you
air!"
"You would have made haste too, friend Seth," said Ernest, laughing--
there never was such a fellow to laugh as he was--"if you had heard what
I have about those blessed Indians, and our old acquaintance, Rising
Cloud."
"What is that?" asked Mr Rawlings anxiously, who had just come up in
time to catch the last observation of the young engineer--"what have you
heard about Rising Cloud?"
"Only," said Ernest, and he spoke gravely enough now--"that he is
spreading murder and havoc all along the banks of the Missouri, and may
be soon here upon us with the miscreant gang he leads. I heard terrible
tales of him in the steamer I came down the river in. The captain of
the little craft told me that the Indians had burnt every outlying
settlement in Southern Dakota, massacring all the white inhabitants, and
were making their way northwards, so we'd better look out. Why, he said
they'd even attacked his boat when it was at one of the landings; and if
he hadn't put on steam he and his vessel would have been settled, with
all on board."
"Ah," said Mr Rawlings, "that corroborates the warning we got from the
commander of the United States troops at Fort Warren when you were away.
We certainly must keep a careful look now, for it would not do to
repeat all of my poor Cousin Ned's experiences, and have the result of
our toil snatched from our grasp by those relentless fiends of the
prairie when it was just within our reach, as it was in his, poor
fellow!"
Mr Rawlings then went on to tell Ernest what they had heard, and give
an account of what had transpired during his absence at the settlements;
after which the whole party proceeded to examine their defences in
detail, the young engineer suggesting that they should entrench the camp
in a systematic way, and also the machinery which would be erected on
the river's bank.
There were but two directions from which they could be attacked; for the
precipitous range of the Black Hills, standing behind Minturne Creek
with its semicircular rampart, protected their rear and sides, so that
they had only their front face to guard, along the course of the stream,
following the gulch.
The same safeguards which they had adopted before were redoubled in the
face of the second warning they received by the account Ernest Wilton
brought back with him of the Indian savages in their neighbourhood,
their day and night watch being maintained with the strictest
regularity.
The teams were soon unloaded and started on their return journey, and
with the exception of the men engaged in clearing out the quartz from
the mine, all hands set to to erect the water-wheel and stamps, which
operation, as all the pieces of timber were fitted and numbered, was an
easy and rapid one.
In three weeks afterwards all was ready for a start. Five hundredweight
of quartz was then weighed out and carried down to the stamps, the gear
which connected the machinery with the great wheel which was revolving
in the river was connected, and the stamps began to rise and fall with a
heavy regular rhythm.
The quartz was thrown in beneath the stamps shovelful by shovelful, and
in an hour and a half the last fragment was used up. For another half
hour the stamps rose and fell, then the water running through them was
no longer milk-white, and the stamps were stopped. Then the blankets
spread upon the ways by which the mud-charged gold had flowed were taken
up and washed, the quicksilver was taken out of the concentrators and
passed through wash-leather bags, in which great rolls of amalgam
remained. These were placed in large crucibles to drive off the
quicksilver, and then removed from the furnace and the gold placed in
the scale. To this was added the fine gold from the blankets. Ernest
Wilton added the weights, and around him stood Mr Rawlings and all the
miners off duty.
"Just a hundred ounces," he said, "five hundred ounces to the ton;
speaking roughly, 1800 pounds a ton."
"Hurrah!" shouted Seth Allport, his ringing voice making itself heard
above the sound of the rushing water and the echoing chorus of the men's
cheers; but, an instant after, his exclamation of delight was changed to
one of dismay, as a flight of arrows and the ping of rifle bullets
whistled around the party, while the dread war-whoop of their Indian
assailants burst forth in all its shrill discordancy.
"Who--ah--ah--ah--ah--oop!"
STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
A FIGHT FOR LIFE!