THE CAMP AT DUTCH FLAT.
The boys slept as comfortably as if they had been at home in their
boarding-house. It is true their blankets were rather hard, and their
pillows were not as soft as they might have been, being simply their
saddles with nothing but the horse-blankets over them, but they never
knew a thing from the time they went to bed until they heard Mr.
Banta's voice roaring out "Catch up!"
They found all in the camp busy. Some were raking the embers of the
fire together, others were getting ready to cook breakfast, but most
of them were engaged in packing the animals. This last was a task that
the boys always wanted to see, for the operation was so complicated
that they did not think they could ever learn how to do it. The mules
were blinded, in the first place, so that they could not kick when the
heavy pack was thrown upon their backs, and the man on the near side,
who seemed to "boss" the business, placed his foot against the mule's
side and called lustily for the rope which the other fellow held in
his hands.
"You have more rope there, and I know it," was the way in which he
began the conversation.
"Here you are," said his companion, and the rope was passed over the
pack to where the other fellow was waiting to receive it.
"Come, let's have a little more rope," repeated the first man.
"There's oceans of it here, and you can have all you want of it."
"Are you all fast there?"
"I will be in a minute. Here's your end."
"All fast here. Now let us see him kick it off," said the first man;
whereupon a dexterous twist tore off the blinders, and the mule was
free to go and join his companions. It was all done in two minutes,
and the pack was safe to last until the train halted for the night.
"Come on, boys," said Mr. Banta, turning to Julian and Jack, who
stood, with towel and soap in their hands, watching the operation of
packing the animals. "You must get around livelier than this. When you
get to digging out gold by the bucketful you won't wait to wash your
faces or get breakfast; you'll be down in that mine before the sun is
up."
"Are we not going to eat at all?" asked Julian, who was amused at the
man's way of telling them that they would be so anxious to find the
gold that they would not spend time to cook their meals.
"Yes, I suppose you will have to eat sometimes, but you will hold your
grub in one hand and use the spade with the other."
The miners were in a hurry, now, to resume their journey, and it took
them about half as long to eat breakfast as they devoted to their
supper. Five minutes was about the time they applied themselves to
their meal, and when Mr. Banta arose from his seat on the ground and
drew his hairy hand across his mouth to brush away the drops of coffee
that clung to his mustache the miners all arose, too. In less time
than it takes to tell it they were all in their saddles and under
way, and when they stopped again for the night they were in a camp
which they had occupied on the way down to Denver. Mr. Banta was as
talkative as usual, and when he had got his pipe going, and had taken
three or four puffs to make sure that it was well started, he began
his round of stories, which the boys were always ready to listen to.
They were all of a week in making their journey; and about three
o'clock in the afternoon, when the old bell-mare struck a trot, Mr.
Banta turned to Jack and gave him a poke with his finger.
"We are almost home," said he, joyfully. "I don't suppose this will
seem like home to you, but it does to me, for it is the only home I
have."
"Do you never get tired of this business?" asked Julian. "I should
think you would like to go back to the States, where you belong."
"How do you know that I belong in the States?" asked Mr. Banta.
"I judge by your way of talking, as much as anything. You were not
raised in this country--I am certain of it."
"Well, I will go back when I get enough."
"How much do you call enough?"
"Half a million dollars."
Julian and Jack opened their eyes and looked surprised.
"I've got three hundred thousand now in the bank at Denver."
"Then you are not so badly off, after all. I think I could live on the
interest of that much."
"There are some objections to my going back," said Mr. Banta, looking
off toward the distant mountains. "When I get back there I will have
to settle down to a humdrum life, and there won't be nothing at all to
get up a little excitement. Here the thing is different. We live here,
taking gold in paying quantities all the time, and the first thing we
know we hear of some new placers, which have been found somewhere
else, that make a man rich as fast as he can stick a shovel into the
ground. Of course we pack up and go off to find the new placers. We
have a muss or two with some outlaws, and when we get rid of them we
go to work and find out that there is nothing there."
"Then you wish yourself back at Dutch Flat," said Jack.
"That's the way it happens, oftentimes. It is the excitement that
keeps us a-going. Now, in the States I would not have any of that."
"Did you find many outlaws in this country when you first came here?"
"They were thicker than flies around a molasses barrel," answered Mr.
Banta. "But we have got rid of them all, and your life is just as safe
here as it would be in St. Louis. Whenever we go to a new country, the
outlaws are the first things we look out for. There's the camp, all
right and tight, just as we left it."
The camp covered a good stretch of ground; but then Mr. Banta had not
told them that there were fully two hundred miners in it, and of
course such a multitude of men, where nobody owned the land, would
spread over a good deal of territory. The boys had a fine opportunity
to take a survey of the first mining camp they had ever seen. They
were surprised at the neatness of it. Things in the shape of old
bottles or tin cans were not scattered around where somebody would
stumble over them, but such articles were thrown into a ravine behind
the camp, out of sight. The most of the miners had erected little log
cabins to protect them from the storms of winter, and the others had
comfortable lean-to's which served the same purpose. Most of the men
were busy with their mines, but there were three or four of them
loafing about, and when the noise made by the pack-animals saluted
their ears they turned to see who was coming. One glance was enough;
they pulled off their hats and waved them by way of welcome.
"Well, if here ain't Banta!" they all exclaimed in a breath. "Did you
drop your roll down at Denver and come back to get more?"
"Nary a time," replied Mr. Banta, emphatically. "We got just what we
could eat and drink, and that is all the money we spent. Who has
passed in his checks since I have been gone?"
(This was a miner's way of asking "Who's dead?")
"None of the boys who are here shovelling for gold," said the man,
coming forward to shake hands with Mr. Banta, "but those four outlaws
who came up here from Denver to deal out some whiskey and start a faro
bank could tell a different story, if they were here."
"They did not get a foothold here, did they?" asked Mr. Banta.
"I'll bet they didn't. We hardly gave them time to unpack their goods
before we jumped on them and spilled their traps on the ground. One of
the bums grew huffy at that, and he took a wounded arm down for the
doctor to bandage up."
"Have any of the boys made their pile?"
"Some have, and some have not. Tommy Moran has struck a vein with
sixty thousand dollars in it, and has been loafing around for the last
two months, doing nothing. He went out to-day to see if he can get
some more. He wants to go home, now."
"I should not think he would like to travel between here and Denver
with that amount of money about him," said Mr. Banta.
"Well, there will be plenty more to join in with him when he is ready
to go. The discouraged ones number a heap. The sign looks right, but
the paying-stuff don't pan out first-rate. Some are going home, and
the rest are going off to hunt up new diggings."
Having briefly got at the news of what had been going on at the camp
while he had been away, Mr. Banta led the way toward his own log
cabin, which was fastened up just as it was when he left it. There was
one bed, made of rough boards, an abundance of dishes, a fireplace,
and one or two chairs, and that was all the furniture to be seen. But
Mr. Banta thought his cabin just about right.
"It don't matter how hard it rains or blows, this little house has
sheltered me for a year, and has got to do so until my vein gives out.
Now, boys, catch the pack-animals and turn them over to me, and I'll
soon make things look as though somebody lived here."
Julian and Jack managed to secure the pack-animals by catching the
bell-mare and leading her up to the door of the cabin, and it was not
long before the bundles which they had borne for two hundred miles
were placed on the ground, and Mr. Banta was engaged in carrying the
things into his house. He unpacked all the bundles except the one that
belonged to the boys, and that would not be opened until they reached
their mine.
"Are you fellows decided on that matter yet?" he asked. "Had you not
better stay with us here on the Flat? We will promise you that no
spooks will trouble you here."
"The more you talk about that mine, the more determined we are to see
what is in it," answered Jack. "You need not think you can scare us
out in that way."
"I like your pluck, and if you are determined to go there, why, I am
going with you. It is only five miles, and we can easily ride over
there in two hours."
"Where is it you are going?" asked one of the miners, who stood in the
doorway unobserved.
"You know that haunted mine, don't you?"
"Great Moses! You ain't a-going up there!" said the man; and as he
spoke he came into the cabin and sat down in one of the chairs.
"The boys are going there, and I thought I would go with them to see
them started," said Mr. Banta. "The mine is all grown up to grass,
because there hasn't been anybody up there for some time now."
"No, I should say not!" exclaimed the miner, as soon as he had
recovered from his astonishment. "Are the boys plumb crazy? I tell
you, lads, when you see----"
"Tony, shut your mouth!" cried Mr. Banta. "The boys won't see
anything, but they'll hear something that will take all the sand out
of them. I have talked to the boys many times about that mine, during
the past winter, but they have their heads set on it, and I don't see
any other way than to let them go."
"Well, if we hear anything, there must be something that makes the
noise," asserted Julian.
"It will be something that you can't see," said the miner, shaking his
head and looking thoughtfully at the ground. "Two fellows went up
there since I knew the mine, and when they got down to the bottom of
the pit they were so frightened that they came down here as fast as
they could and struck out for Denver. They were both big, stout men,
and were armed with Winchesters and revolvers. If they had seen what
made the noise, they would have been apt to shoot--wouldn't they?"
"I should think they would," answered Jack.
"Will you go down into the mine when you get there?" asked the man,
turning to Mr. Banta.
"Not much, as anybody knows of," declared the latter, shivering all
over. "The ghosts don't bother anybody working at the top, so I shall
get along all right."
"Well, that puts a different look on the matter," remarked Tony,
evidently much relieved. "Then I shall expect to see you back in two
or three days."
"Yes, I'll be back by that time," asserted Mr. Banta; and he added to
himself, "if anything happens to the boys after that, why, I shall be
miles away."
This was the first time that Mr. Banta had anything to say to the
miners about what he intended to do when he reached Dutch Flat, but it
was all over the camp in less than five minutes. The miner went slowly
and thoughtfully out of the cabin, as if he did not know whether it
was best to agree to his leader's proposition or not, and it was not
long before the men who were busy with things about their houses came
up in a body to inquire into the matter. They were filled with
astonishment; and, furthermore, they were anxious to see the boys who
were going to take their lives in their hands and go up to work that
pit, from which strong men had been frightened away. And it was so
when six o'clock arrived, and the men all came in to get their supper.
Some of the miners declared that it was not to be thought of, and some
said that if Mr. Banta was bound to go, they would go with him to see
that he came out all right.
"You see what the miners think of this business," remarked Mr. Banta,
as he began preparations for their supper. "They think you are out of
your heads."
"Well, you will not see anything of it, because you won't go into the
mine," said Jack.
"You are mighty right I won't go into the mine," declared Mr. Banta,
looking furtively about the cabin, as if he expected to see something
advancing upon him. "We will go up there and put the pit all right,
and then you will have to work it."
"I wonder if there is any gold up there?" asked Julian.
"There is more gold up there than you can see in Dutch Flat in a
year's steady digging. The men who have been down in the mine say so."
"Well, when we come back you may expect to see us rich," said Julian,
compressing his lips. "And you may be sure that the spooks won't drive
us out, either."
This was all that was said on the subject--that is, by those in the
cabin; but when the men had eaten their suppers they all crowded into
it, and the stories that would have been told of ghosts interfering
with miners who tried to take away their precious belongings would
have tested the boys' courage; but Mr. Banta did not allow them to go
on.
"As I told these boys down at Denver, I am telling them nothing but
facts in regard to this mine, and I want you to do the same," said he.
"Don't draw on your imagination at all."
Before the miners returned to their cabins, it came about that the
boys were going to have a small army go with them on the morrow. At
least a dozen miners declaimed their readiness to go with Banta "and
see him through," and Banta did not object.
"The more, the merrier," said he, when they had been left alone and he
turned down his bedclothes. "Now, you boys can spread your blankets on
the floor in front of the fire and go to sleep; I will have you up at
the first peep of day."