MR. BANTA IS SURPRISED.
"You fellows look surprised," said Mr. Gibson, running his eyes from
one to the other of the boys. "It seems to me, if a man told me I had
that amount of money coming to me, and that I had ten thousand dollars
where I could draw on it at my leisure, this room would not hold me; I
should want the whole city to splurge in."
The boys made no reply. Jack drew his hand once or twice across his
forehead, as if to brush away some wrinkles, while Julian got up and
walked to the window.
"You did not expect to get it--did you?" continued Mr. Gibson.
"No, sir, we did not," replied Julian; "but we hoped to get it. We
tried our level best to find Mr. Haberstro, following the advice of
Mr. Wiggins in everything he told us to do; but he was out of our
reach."
"He is dead, probably," said Mr. Gibson. "I know just what you tried
to do, and all about it. Of course there will be some law to go
through with before you can step into the property. Do you wish me to
take charge of it for you?"
"Oh, Mr. Gibson, we really wish you would. We know nothing about law,
and consequently we should not know how to act."
"And do you wish me to take charge of the rental of your blocks of
buildings?"
"Yes, sir; go on just as you did before, and when we want money we
will come to you."
"Well, that is a different thing altogether," said Mr. Gibson, looking
down at the floor. "The twenty thousand dollars that I told you of is
now in the bank, subject to my order. I guess I had better go up there
with you and have it changed. You can then get money whenever you want
it. By the way, Julian, Mr. Wiggins sent his kindest regards to you;
and, furthermore, he gave me a letter which he wished me to hand to
you. I've got one for you, Jack, from your boss; what do you call
him?"
"Master mechanic," replied Jack.
Mr. Gibson opened his desk and took out two letters, which he gave to
the boys. The sight of Mr. Wiggins's handwriting on the envelope was
almost too much for Julian, for he put the letter into his pocket and
walked to the window again.
"There is some good advice in those letters, and I want you boys to
follow it out implicitly," said the lawyer. "You will always find me
here, ready to tell you what to do in case you get into trouble. You
must come to me or to Mr. Fay every time you get into a box. But,
first and foremost, don't have anything to do with strangers. There
are some of them who are bound to hear of your good fortune, and will
take every means in their power to get hold of it. Don't sign any
papers unless you bring them to me."
"We have already had a little experience in that line," said Julian,
with a smile. "Claus came up to us and tried to pass himself off for
Mr. Haberstro, and he is the one who stole our valises on our way
here; but he didn't make anything by it."
"Yes--I heard all about this man Claus, and about that friend of
yours, Casper Nevins. You know enough to steer clear of such fellows
in future. Now, if you are all through, we'll go up to the bank."
The boys followed Mr. Gibson out of the office, along the street,
turning three or four corners, until they reached the bank. He did not
have any business to do with the man who stood behind the desk
counting out the money, but he simply asked him,
"Is E. A. in?"
"Yes, sir; he is in his private office," replied the cashier.
The boys did not know who E. A. was, but they found out a moment
later, for the lawyer led them into the presence of the president of
the bank. He was gray-headed and wore a pair of gold spectacles, but
he stopped his work and shook Mr. Gibson warmly by the hand. He looked
curiously at the boys, but when the lawyer began his story, talking
very rapidly, for there was a card hung up over his desk which said on
it, "This is my busy day," he laid down his pen and glanced at Julian
and Jack with some interest.
"And you want the twenty thousand dollars changed, so that it will be
subject to their order?" said he.
"Yes, sir, that is my errand up here."
The president got upon his feet and walked into the room where the
cashier was. When he went, the boys had not more than ten dollars in
their pockets that they could call their own; when he came back, they
had a small fortune coming to them.
"It is all right," said he. "And which of you boys was it who bid on
the 'old horse?'" he continued, extending a hand to each of them. "You
are the one? Well, my son, remember that there is an end to your money
somewhere, and if you go to work and spend it all without waiting for
some more to come in, the end of it is not far off. I wish you good
luck."
The boys retraced their steps to the cashier's desk, and the transfer
of the property from Mr. Gibson's order to their own was easily
completed. Mr. Gibson signed a check, the boys attached their names
to a big book which was thrust out at them, and then the cashier
wanted to know if they needed any money.
"We would like about one hundred dollars apiece," said Julian.
"Very well; make out a check for it and sign your names to it, and you
can get it all right. You will find the checks there on that desk."
The boys accordingly made out their checks for the money, and Mr.
Gibson stood watching them, smiling to himself when he saw how the
boys' hands trembled, and how anxious they were to have everything
correct. The money was paid on the checks, and Julian and Jack put it
into their pockets.
"You got it, didn't you?" said the lawyer.
"Yes, sir; thanks to you, we have got it," said Julian. "Mr. Gibson, I
can't begin to tell you how much we thank you----"
"Oh, that is all right," said the lawyer, opening the door of the
bank; "only, don't get into a fuss and lose it all."
"When we came here," continued Julian, "we had no money at all; now
see how different it is! I assure you that we are not going to get
into any fuss. The money is safe where it is."
"Well, let it stay there. I am pretty busy this morning, so I beg that
you will excuse me. Good-bye."
The lawyer hurried away, and Julian stood a little on one side of the
door of the bank, one hand thrust into his pocket where he had placed
the bills, and his eyes fastened upon Mr. Gibson as long as he
remained in sight.
"Say, Jack," said he, suddenly; "I don't believe Mr. Gibson had any
right to give us this money."
"He hadn't?" exclaimed Jack. "Why, it was his."
"No, it was not; it belongs to that Haberstro estate. It seems to me
he ought to have got an order from the court before giving any of the
money up to us."
"Perhaps he has an order," said Jack.
"Then why did he not say something about it? I would like to know when
the court sits. If the Judge finds any blundering in the business,
why, then we are up a stump. What will we do if this man Haberstro
comes up, all on a sudden, and tells us he wants this hundred
dollars?"
"Whew!" said Jack; "I did not think of that."
"But Mr. Gibson probably knew what the decision of the court was going
to be or he would not have done this," added Julian, after a moment's
pause. "I guess we are all right, but I shall feel better when we have
all that property in our hands."
Julian wished now, when it was too late, that he had not spoken to
Jack about this. During the dinner hour he was unusually silent and
thoughtful, and the landlady's questioning could not get a word out of
him. He would arouse up long enough to reply, and then he would fall
to thinking again.
"I will never tell you another piece of news as long as I live," said
Julian, as they went up to their room to get ready to accompany Mr.
Fay to call on the miner. "You always have enough to say at dinner,
but to-day you were as solemn as an owl."
"I could not help it," said Jack. "If that man who owns this property
turns up here, I tell you we shall be in a fix. We shall spend this
before the winter is over, and how are we to get a hundred dollars to
pay him? I'll speak to Mr. Gibson about that the next time I see him."
"I believe that would be a good plan," said Julian, after thinking the
matter over. "I'll bet you that he has some good reason for it."
In due time the boys arrived at Mr. Fay's office, and found him ready
to accompany them. All he said was that he was going out for half an
hour, and if anybody came to see him he was to be told that he would
soon be back; and then he set off, with his long strides, to lead the
way to Salisbury's hotel. The boys found it as much as they could do
to keep up with him.
"I guess you have been a messenger-boy in your day," said Julian.
"I was a messenger-boy for six years," replied Mr. Fay. "Of course I
did not want to hold that position all my life, so I learned
telegraphy at odd times, and got my promotion as fast as I was
qualified for it, until at last I got where you see me now. That's the
way that young men ought to do--look out for promotion."
"We received good news down there at Mr. Gibson's office," continued
Julian.
"I knew you would. Have you the property all in your hands?"
"No; there is some law-business to go through with, first. We told Mr.
Gibson to go ahead with it, as he did before."
"That was the best thing that you ever did," said Mr. Fay, earnestly.
"Gibson is an honest man, even if he is a lawyer, and you will get
every cent that is coming to you. Now, then, here we are. You will
find this rather a different hotel from the one you first stopped at
when you came here, but the old fellow makes lots of money out of the
miners. There is nobody stays here except those who have shovelled
dirt."
Mr. Fay opened the door as he spoke, and the boys speedily found
themselves in the living-room of the hotel. Before they had time to
look around them the chief telegraph operator walked up and laid his
hand upon the shoulder of a man who sat with his back to him.
"You are here yet, are you, Banta?" said he.
"Yes," replied the miner, looking up to see who it was that accosted
him. "I am on hand, like a bogus coin made out of iron pyrites; you
can't get rid of me."
"I have brought some boys with me who would like to know something
about the mines at which you are working," said Mr. Fay; and he
proceeded to introduce Julian and Jack.
Banta speedily proved that he was a gentleman, for he straightway got
upon his feet to shake hands with the boys.
"All right," said the miner; "if anybody can tell them about Dutch
Flat, I am the man."
"They are going to stay here this winter, and go out with you next
spring," Mr. Fay went on.
"All right," said the miner, again; "I will put them where they can
dig gold so fast that you won't see anything but gold coming out of
the pit."
"But they have a gold-mine up there already."
"They have? Where is it located?"
Mr. Fay could not answer this question, so he stood aside and waited
for Julian to tell him the whereabouts of the mine. The boy began by
asking him,
"Do you know the mine that Winkleman used to work when he was here?"
Mr. Banta started, and looked at Julian to see if he was in dead
earnest. The boy gazed fixedly at him, and the miner finally settled
back in his chair and pulled himself down until his neck rested on the
back of it.
"Of course I know that mine," said he. "You don't think of working
there, do you?"
"We thought some of trying it," replied Julian.
"Pete, what do you think of that?" asked Mr. Banta, pushing his hand
against the shoulder of the man who sat nearest him, with his eyes
closed, as if he were fast asleep. "Here are two boys going up to
Dutch Flat next spring to work the Winkleman mine."
"Well," replied Pete, without lifting his head, "I am glad I am not
going up there."
"Are the ghosts so awful thick up there?" asked Julian, who felt his
courage oozing out at the ends of his fingers.
"You know something about it--don't you? The ghosts are so thick up
there that you can't go down in the mine to shovel a bucketful of dirt
without scaring some of them up."
"Well, you will have to excuse me," said Mr. Fay. "I should like to
see what those ghosts are, but my work calls me. You will take charge
of the boys next spring, will you, Mr. Banta?"
"Sure I will; but they are plumb dunces if they try to work that mine.
I will go with them as far as I can, and the balance of the way they
will have to depend on themselves."
Mr. Fay said he believed they could do that, opened the door and went
out, and Julian and Jack were left alone.