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Two Boy Gold Miners
Or, Lost in the Mountains
BY FRANK V. WEBSTER
AUTHOR OF "THE BOY FROM THE RANCH," "BOB THE CASTAWAY," "THE NEWSBOY
PARTNERS," "ONLY A FARM BOY," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1909, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
TWO BOY GOLD MINERS
Printed in U. S. A.
[Illustration: "It was burning fiercely, in spite of the drenching
rain"]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HARD TIMES 1
II. AFTER THE RUNAWAY 10
III. THE GOLD MINER 18
IV. A CURIOUS STORY 26
V. MORE HARD LUCK 34
VI. THE GOLD STRIKE 42
VII. OFF FOR THE WEST 51
VIII. THE BUCKING BRONCO 58
IX. AFTER BIG GAME 66
X. IN THE RAPIDS 74
XI. CAUGHT IN A STORM 83
XII. AT THE GOLD FIELDS 90
XIII. ON A NEW TRAIL 95
XIV. THE MARSHAL INTERFERES 103
XV. THEIR FIRST GOLD 110
XVI. LOST 118
XVII. CORNERED BY A BEAR 126
XVIII. FINDING THE NUGGETS 133
XIX. CON MORTON APPEARS 139
XX. PURSUED 145
XXI. WHAT HAPPENED TO GABE 162
XXII. STAKING THEIR CLAIMS 169
XXIII. CHEERLESS PROSPECTS 186
XXIV. LOSING THE FARM 194
XXV. THE WELCOME LETTER--CONCLUSION 200
TWO BOY GOLD MINERS
CHAPTER I
HARD TIMES
"What's the matter, Enos?" asked a rather elderly and careworn looking
woman, as she stood in the kitchen door of a small farmhouse.
The man to whom she had spoken was gazing up at the sky. His clothes
were patched in places, the trousers so much so that there seemed to be
very little of the original material left. He did not appear to hear his
wife's question, so she repeated it.
"What's the matter, Enos? What are you looking up at the sky that way
for?"
"I was looking for a sign of rain, Debby. We need some terribly bad."
"Do you see any?"
"Nope. There isn't a cloud in sight, and the wind has hung in the east
for nigh on to a week. Seems so it ought to bring a shower, but it don't
come."
"Things are pretty dry around here, aren't they, Enos?"
"That's what they are, Debby, and if they don't get wet soon I don't
know what we're going to do."
"Is it as bad as that?"
"It's liable to be. The potatoes won't amount to much, and the corn is
just shriveling up with the heat. There'll be a short crop of everything
but weeds, I'm thinking."
"I wouldn't worry, Enos, if I was you. Maybe things will come out all
right."
"How can they, Debby, if we don't get rain? Things can't grow unless
they get some moisture, and we haven't had a drop going on four weeks
now. I declare, farming is the hardest kind of a life, I don't care what
the books say!"
"Well, we'll have to do the best we can, I suppose," said the woman,
with a sigh, as she went back into the house.
"What's the matter, mother?" asked a tall, pretty girl, who was washing
the breakfast dishes. "You look worried."
"I am, Nettie."
"What about?"
"Everything; but your father in particular."
"Is he sick, mother?"
"No; but he's fretting himself to death because there isn't any rain,
and he's afraid the crops will be ruined."
"That would be too bad."
"Yes; times are hard enough as it is, without having a short crop of
everything. We depended on a good season this year to finish paying off
the mortgage, but the way it looks now we'll be deeper in debt than
ever. I declare! it's too bad, just as your father was getting on his
feet, after a lot of bad luck, to have this dry spell come."
The girl did not reply, but there came a more serious look on her pretty
face. She was a farmer's daughter, and she knew what it meant if there
was a long period without rain.
Enos Crosby, with his wife, his daughter Nettie and his two sons, Jed
and Will, had a small farm near the town of Lockport, in one of the
middle Western States. Jed was the elder son, a good-humored lad, always
inclined to look on the bright sides of things. Will, the younger
brother, was somewhat prone to be melancholy. His mother said it was
because he grew so fast; that he was always looking ahead and seeing how
things came out before they really happened. Though he was two years
younger than Jed, he was half a head taller, though not so strong.
Mr. Crosby had tried for many years to make a living off the farm for
himself and his family. He had barely succeeded. Some years he saved a
little money, but, as soon as he did so, it went to help pay off the
mortgage, with which nearly every farm in that locality was saddled.
Some years he fell behind, and had to borrow money to carry him through
the winter.
As Mr. Crosby stood in the little garden, at the side of the house, and
continued to gaze up at the sky, he murmured:
"Well, if we don't get rain by to-morrow night I don't know what we'll
do. Have to borrow some more money to get along with, I guess, for the
crops are practically ruined now. Still, a good soaking shower would do
a world of good. I wonder how the boys are making out with their
cultivating? Guess I'll take a walk over and see."
In dry spells it is a practice of farmers to cultivate, or frequently
dig up, the soil around their corn, potatoes or such other crops as
admit of it. This pulverizing of the earth, in a measure, makes up for
the lack of rain.
That morning Jed and Will had been sent to the big corn patch, which was
in a distant field, to work over the ground, and let a little air get to
the roots, so that the lack of rain might be offset. As Mr. Crosby
strolled over to the corn patch his mind was filled with many thoughts.
"I wish I could find something else to do besides farming," he murmured
to himself. "It's a very uncertain way of making a living. Still, I
suppose it's all I'm fitted for. I don't know much about business, and
my folks have been farmers all their lives. But I never saw such hard
times as we're having now. I wouldn't mind so much if it was me alone,
but there's Nettie. She does want a piano terribly bad, so she can learn
to play. She's real quick to learn. And Debby"--as he called his wife,
Deborah--"she needs some new clothes, though she never complains about
the old ones."
"I need some new ones myself, by the looks of these," he went on,
glancing down at his much-patched trousers. "I guess Debby will be hard
put to find any of the original pattern left to fasten a patch on. But I
don't mind. I wish I could give my boys a better education, though. What
little schooling they get here in the winter ain't never going to put
them ahead very far. Well, I suppose there's no help for it."
He trudged on despondently, now and again casting anxious glances
upward, to see if there was not in the sky some little cloud that bore a
promise of the much-needed rain. But the sun shone down hotter than
ever.
Meanwhile, Jed and Will were proceeding with their cultivating. Each one
was driving a horse attached to a small machine, the sharp teeth of
which cut through the dry, caked soil. The horses moved slowly along the
rows of corn, a cloud of dust hovering over them and the young farmers.
"Hey, Will!" called Jed to his brother, whose head was some distance
above the stunted cornstalks, "don't you feel like having an ice-cream
soda?"
"Don't I, though? Say, Jed, quit talking like that, will you! My throat
is all dry down inside, and my tongue is getting twice as thick as it
ought to be. Whew! But this dust is fierce! I guess it's forgotten how
to rain."
"Looks like it. But I'm going to have a drink, anyhow. Whoa, Tabasco
Sauce! Stand still!"
"Who you talking to?" asked Will, looking through the corn to where his
brother was.
"My horse, of course."
"That's a queer name for him."
"Well, Tabasco Sauce is the hottest stuff I know about, and I reckon my
horse is about the hottest thing around here, unless it's me. But don't
you want a drink?"
"What of? I don't care for creek water, and it's too far to go back to
the house."
"Here's where I stand treat, and surprise you," went on Jed. "Come on.
Your horse will stand without hitching."
"I don't know about that. He's been acting queer, lately. He was quite
frisky when I started off ahead of you this morning, and tried to run
away."
"You don't say so? Fancy Pete running away! Maybe you'd better tie him."
"I will. There's a big stone here. But what are you going to drink? I
tell you I won't touch that creek water. I don't believe it's good, the
creek's so low."
"That's all right. Come on with me."
Jed, whose horse showed no signs of straying away, left his steed
standing in the middle of a row of corn, while Will fastened Pete to a
big boulder, by wrapping the reins around the stone. The elder brother
then led the way to the creek, which bordered the corn field, and
striding to a spot where some weeping willow trees cast a cool shade, he
plunged his hand down in a little pool, and drew up an earthen jug.
"What do you say to that?" he asked.
"Switchel?" inquired Will
"That's what. I made a jug of it this morning when I knew we were coming
over to this hot place. That's what made me late, and you got here ahead
of me."
"Well, pass it over. I'm as dry as a powder horn."
"I'll take it first, if you don't mind," remarked Jed, with a smile.
"You're so tall, Lanky, that if you got to drinking, all there is in the
jug might run down to your feet, and I'd get left."
He laughed and, tilting up the jug, drank from the uncorked opening.
Switchel, I may explain to my young readers, is a drink much used by
farmers, and those who have to work in hot fields often take a jug of it
along, especially if they are far from good drinking water. It is
composed of molasses, water and ginger, and has a pleasant taste.
"Um! I feel better," remarked Jed as he passed the jug to his brother.
"Now, Bean-pole, don't take it all. That's got to last until noon, and
the day has only begun."
"Don't worry. I won't take any more than you did."
After the refreshing draught the two brothers rested for a moment in the
shade of the willow trees.
"Do you know, Will, I'm not much stuck on farming," remarked Jed slowly.
"Me either. I don't mind hard work, but there doesn't seem to be much of
a prospect here."
"You're right. Dad and all of us work hard, but it does not seem to
amount to anything. Times are getting harder all the while and even the
weather is against us."
"It does seem so. But I suppose it would be just as bad if we were in
some other business."
"Maybe. I wish I could get out of here. I'd like to do something else
than farm."
"What would be your choice?"
"Well," remarked Jed, slowly, while a smile appeared on his face that
had grown a bit serious, "I read about a tramp once that was looking for
a contract to gather the blossoms on a century plant, that bloomed once
in a hundred years. I don't care for anything quite as slow as that, but
I would like a job where I could make a bit of money, instead of always
paying up back debts."
"Yes, poor dad has had bad luck. But maybe better times are coming."
"I'm afraid not. But this isn't cultivating the corn, and, if we don't
do that, I know there won't be any crop coming this fall. Let's get back
to work."
"Suppose we give the horses a drink," suggested Will.
"They can't take switchel out of the jug. Besides, I don't believe
they'd care for it."
"Oh, you know what I mean!" exclaimed Will, who was not as fond of a
joke as was his older brother. "Let's lead 'em to the creek."
They unhitched the animals, putting halters on them, and led the eager
steeds toward the inviting water. Whether it was the heat, or whether he
decided he had done enough work for one day was not made clear, but, no
sooner did Will's horse, Pete, take one sip of the water, than he jerked
the halter rope from the boy's hand, kicked up his heels and, with a
shrill whinny, dashed away through the corn.