THE LURE OF GOLD
The task of releasing the imprisoned horses was not such an easy task as
the girls and even Andy Rawlinson had thought it would be.
In the first place, it took Andy and his company some time to discover
the place along the trail where the landslide had occurred, for Betty's
account had been hasty and excited and she had overlooked several
details that might have helped them in their work.
And when they did reach the scene of what might have been a tragedy the
ranch hands were appalled by the immensity of the landslide. There had
been several small ones in that vicinity, but this was what Andy termed
a "humdinger."
There was a stamping and snorting from inside that dirt-choked cavern
that, there in that lonely spot on the very edge of night, seemed
positively uncanny to the men who stood and listened.
"Better get busy, boys," said Andy suddenly. "Those hosses ain't goin'
to get any easier in they minds an' it's about time we dug 'em out of
there. Back to Gold Run as fast as we can get there for the right kind
of tools from the miners. We may need some more men, too. Gosh, but I
didn't know it was as bad as that," he added with a glance over his
shoulder as he turned his pony and dashed back down the trail in the
direction of Gold Run. "Reckon 'twas just plain grit that got those
girls out."
Back in Gold Run they found several miners who were willing to offer
both themselves and their tools toward the work of liberation, and soon
the cowboys returned, accompanied by men with lanterns, and fell to work
with a will.
Two hours later, Andy Rawlinson ventured into the blackness of the cave,
swinging his lantern before him, and led forth the first of the
frightened horses.
Meanwhile the girls had bathed away the stains of their adventure, and
after a hearty meal cooked by an over solicitous "Miz Cummins" and
served by a frankly envious and inquisitive Lizzie, they felt
considerably more like their old self-confident selves.
However, they begged not to have to go to bed, as Mrs. Nelson anxiously
suggested, until the boys had returned with their horses.
"I'm beginning to get dreadfully worried," Betty confessed after an
interval of staring out into the darkness. They were on the biggest of
the many porches boasted by the quaint old ranch house, waiting eagerly
for the first sound that would announce the return of Andy and the
others with their horses.
"I'd never get over it if anything happened to Old Nick," said Mollie,
taking up Betty's theme. "Maybe we'd better borrow some other horses
from the corral and follow them."
"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Nelson, his voice sounding
unusually stern there in the darkness. "I am going to keep my eye on you
for the rest of to-day, at least!"
And so they contented themselves as well as they could with waiting and
finally were rewarded by the regular beat of galloping horses in the
distance.
"They're coming!" cried Betty, springing to her feet, then turned to her
father pleadingly: "You won't mind if we go down to meet them, will you,
Dad?" she asked. "They are our chums, you know--the horses, I mean."
Mr. Nelson nodded, and down the steps the girls sprang, racing out to
meet that sound of galloping hoofs which was coming ever nearer. A few
minutes later they were caressing the nervous animals that had gone with
them into the very shadow of death, rubbing their noses, laughing and
crying over them and calling them endearing names till it's a wonder the
cowboys, who stood by, grinning sympathetically, did not turn green with
envy.
"Some anymiles do have all the luck," said one of them.
After that the girls and their horses were almost inseparable. If left
to themselves, the latter would follow the girls around like dogs. Even
"Old Nick," who had been the most difficult to understand and win, now
was devoted to Mollie. She was the only one who could quiet him, and
though there were some who did not care to ride him because of his
skittishness, he was never anything but gentle and docile with her.
As the days passed the girls became more and more interested in Meggy
Higgins until the longing to give her one good time, in spite of her
pride, became almost an obsession with them.
One day Betty begged so hard that the girl finally consented to take a
holiday and go out with them for a day's fun. But Meggy surrendered
reluctantly, in spite of the fact that this invitation of the girls had
been like a glimpse of wonderland to her.
"I reckon dad can get along one day without me, specially as the hermit
can do part of my work. Pa's broke him in so he can be real helpful
now----"
But she got no farther, for Betty threw her arms around the surprised
girl and hugged her happily.
"I'm awfully glad!" she cried, adding with eyes that sparkled: "I tell
you what I'll do. I'll let you ride Nigger. There's a darling little
brown colt over at the ranch that I've been just dying to try out."
Sudden tears sprang to Meggy's eyes, and with the disgust of all
mountain folk for the expression of sentiment, she turned away
impatiently to hide this tell-tale sign of weakness. But Betty had
glimpsed the tears and she was satisfied.
The day was all that even Meggy Higgins' starved imagination could have
expected of it. The miner's daughter was so beatifically happy that the
girls found a new and most satisfying thrill in her enjoyment.
All her short, work-driven life Meggy Higgins had wanted a horse, a
beautiful, sleek animal with supple limbs and shining coat like the one
that she was riding now--Betty's Nigger. Many have desired a fortune,
some political fame, others social position, but Meggy merely desired a
horse. And even this had been denied her because her father had been
dazzled by the lure of gold, a fortune always just before his eyes, but
never to be grasped.
The girls were sorry for old Dan Higgins and his thwarted hopes. But
they were infinitely more sorry for this girl of his to whom hardship
was a daily reality and pleasure a golden vision to be indulged in only
by girls whose fathers did not own a worthless claim.
"Sometimes," spoke up Mollie, as she reined Old Nick into a walk, "I
wish I had the courage to rob somebody else's mine, Meggy, and plant the
gold in yours. It doesn't seem fair for you to work all the time and get
nothing for it."
The girl smiled sadly.
"I'm used to that," she said, with a grim philosophy far beyond her
years. Then she added, with a quick loyalty that made the girls' hearts
warm to her: "I don't mind. I'd do anything for dad an' I guess if he
thought I was gettin' discouraged he'd jest plum up an' quit. He's
gittin' old, he is, an' he ain't that spry like he used to be. All he
has is his hope in that mine--an' me. Ef you killed that you might as
well kill him."
After a while they stopped in the shade of some stunted trees and had
lunch. The girls could tell from Meggy's popping eyes that the
delicacies they drew forth from Miz Cummins' lunch basket had never
been dreamed of in all her hum-drum, joyless life.
Tongue sandwiches, buttered corn-bread, fried chicken that you were at
perfect liberty to take up in your fingers and nibble to your heart's
content, jelly and olives and hot cocoa in the thermos bottle with rich
cream already in it--truly a feast even worthy of the Outdoor Girls!
After lunch the girls strolled around a bit, leaving their mounts to
graze lazily. They talked of many things, the adventures they had had,
the curious people they had met in their adventuring, while Meggy
listened to it all, drinking it in thirstily.
"To think of all the things you've seen," she breathed at last. "An'
I've spent all my time sence I was able to toddle, I reckon, betwixt our
cabin an' the mine--back an' forth, back an' forth----"
After that they rode on again and it was quite late in the day when they
decided it was time to be going back.
"I don't see," said Grace, as they neared the ranch, "why we don't lay
out some claims and start digging ourselves, girls. The north end of
this ranch is quite near the other mines. We might strike gold."
The words were spoken laughingly, but Meggy took them seriously.
"Mebbe there's some truth in that," she said soberly. "Dad allus
reckoned they might be gold on Gold Run Ranch."
A short time later they left her at the mine and Betty mounted Nigger,
leading the brown colt by the reins. Meggy had tried to stammer some
words of thanks, but the girls would have none of it. They waved to her
gayly and started for home.
After an unusually long and thoughtful silence, Amy spoke up softly.
"Betty," she said, "if Meggy is right about the ranch, there being gold
here, I mean, then what your mother had thought all along may turn out
to be the truth."
"Well," said Betty, a joyous lilt to her voice that the girls knew well,
"Allen will be here in a few days and then we'll start our gold hunt.
Gold!" she repeated softly. "There is something romantic in the very
sound of it!"