LOST
"Hurrah!" yelled Jed, capering about. "We're in luck! Gold, Will! What'd
I tell you? I knew we'd find it!" and he began dancing about like an
Indian, or a cowboy celebrating a holiday.
"Oh, it's not such an awful lot," replied Gabe, more calmly, as he
scooped up the yellow grains. "You'll have to wash out a good many
panfuls before you'll be rich at this rate. Let's see how Will's is
going to pan out."
He repeated the operation, and got more of the gold. The eyes of the two
brothers shone with excitement, nor was Gabe altogether free from
excitement, though it was an old story to him.
"Come on, Will, let's clean up another panful," suggested Jed.
"Hold on!" called Gabe. "Help me get camp in shape first. It'll soon be
dark. That pay dirt will keep. It's been there a good many hundred
years, and it isn't going to run away in the night."
"Hadn't we better stake out a claim?" suggested Jed, who was rapidly
becoming familiar with mining terms.
"We'll prospect a bit more first," replied Gabe. "It may not pay us to
remain here. No use cleaning up a little bit like this, when we can get
big nuggets a bit further on."
"But we're sure there's gold here," objected Jed, "and we don't know
whether or not there's any further on."
"Go slow," advised the old miner. "Come on, now, help me fix up the
tent."
The boys knew that Gabe's advice was good, and, though they felt a wild
desire to remain digging gold, they realized that they must have a place
to sleep, for it was getting cool at night, now that they were well up
in the mountains.
The boys were up early the next morning, and each one had washed a pan
of gravel before breakfast. They obtained about a quarter of an ounce of
gold each.
"How much is it worth?" asked Jed eagerly.
"Well," replied Gabe critically, "you've made about ten dollars between
you this morning."
"And last night?"
"A little more. Say twenty-five dollars altogether."
"Why, we'll soon be rich!" exclaimed Jed.
"Maybe, if this gravel holds out," admitted Gabe. "But don't be too
sure. I think it's only a surface mine, the gold having been washed
down from some place higher up. Now get your breakfast and then we'll do
some mining, until I can see what sort of a place we've struck."
They washed several panfuls of dirt that morning. To Jed's
disappointment on several occasions the result, after a careful washing
and shaking, was only a few grains of the precious yellow stuff. Again
they would get nearly half an ounce.
"I think I'll make a rocker," said Gabe, at length. "We can do it faster
then, and find out if this is going to pay."
"What's a rocker?" asked Will.
"I'll show you."
From some pieces of a box, in which some of their camp stuff was packed,
Gabe constructed a sort of rude cradle, on rockers. The bottom of the
box, which was rather shallow, was covered with a number of cross
sticks, nailed to it like the cleats on a gangplank.
The box was filled with gravel and water. The water ran out of the lower
end, carrying most of the dirt and gravel with it. The gold, being
heavier, settled to the bottom, and was prevented from flowing away by
the cleats. After about two hours of this work or "rocking," so called
because the cradle is rocked from side to side, Gabe gathered from the
box nearly a handful of pure gold grains.
"There! What do you think of that?" exclaimed Jed. "Have we struck a
bonanza or not?"
"I can't tell yet," replied Mr. Harrison cautiously. "It may peter out
any minute, but it's good so far."
The miner's fears were realized. As the day wore on the result of the
various "clean-ups" was less and less, until, after the cradle had been
filled several times, the result was only a mere pinch of gold.
"Let's dig over a wider space," suggested Jed.
"No," said the miner, "it's just as I thought, there was only a small
deposit of gold there, and we've cleaned it up."
"Then there isn't any use in staying here?"
"Not unless we can find another deposit."
They hunted for it without success, remaining for several days in the
place of their first strike. Then the miner decided they should continue
on up into the mountains.
"The gold is above us," he said. "We've got to climb up to it."
They broke camp, packed their supplies on the backs of the horses, and
started forward.
"Well, we made some money, anyhow," said Jed. "Our first attempt wasn't
so bad."
"Yes, we cleaned up a few hundred dollars," admitted Gabe, "but that's
hardly enough to pay our expenses for the time we spent. We'll have to
have better luck than that, and I believe we will."
"I wish we could send word to dad," added Will.
"Better wait until we make a real strike," suggested Mr. Harrison. "No
use raising false hopes."
They journeyed on for several days in a lonely part of the mountain,
meeting no one. They had some luck, but not much, and the boys began to
fear they would never reach a place where they could make a permanent
camp, and dig gold in quantities sufficient to make it pay. But Gabe was
not discouraged. He was too old a hand at the game of gold hunting.
"Boys," said the old miner one morning, as they were preparing to break
camp, and travel on, "suppose you stay here for a few hours? I want to
take a little side trip, and as it's rather dangerous I'd rather you'd
stay here. I want to go up that mountain," pointing to one, off to one
side, "and see if I can't see some new signs. I'll be back in a little
while, so wait here for me."
Removing the pack from his horse, and with only his rifle, pick and pan,
the old miner set off. The boys, for want of something better to do, dug
up some gravel and washed it in their pans, but with no success. It
served, however, to pass the time.
"Say, don't you think it's about time Gabe came back?" asked Will, as he
looked up at the sun, and noted it was nearly noon.
"That's so. He has been gone longer than he said he would be," answered
Jed. "But he'll come back. Let's try digging over here," and he went to
a new spot.
He was encouraged by finding a few grains of gold, and then he and Will
set feverishly to work, but they had no great success.
"My! But I'm hungry!" exclaimed Jed, several hours later. "Why!" he
exclaimed, as he looked at his watch, "it's three o'clock, and Gabe
isn't back yet!"
"Let's get grub," proposed Will. "Maybe he's struck good pay dirt, and
he hates to leave."
They ate their meal, and again went back to their gold pans, but they
found no yellow metal. The sun sank lower and lower. It was getting
dark, and there were no signs of the old miner. The boys looked
anxiously at each other.
"Maybe he's hurt," suggested Will.
"Maybe," admitted Jed, accepting his brother's rather gloomy view, which
was something new for him.
"Had we better go look for him?"
"I don't know. He told us to stay here until he came back."
"But if he's fallen, and can't move, he'd want us to go for him."
"That's so. Let's go. Get your gun, Will, and put plenty of matches in
your pockets. We may want to light a torch. Tie the horses so they won't
stray."
The two boys were soon walking up the mountain path that Gabe had taken
earlier in the day. It was fast getting dusk, and they were very
anxious. The trail was a winding one, and twisted and turned in every
direction. At first they could see the marks made by Gabe's horse, but
the hoof-prints soon disappeared.
"Guess we'd better go back," suggested Will, after they had tramped for
an hour. "There's no sign of him. Maybe he went on another trail, and is
back at camp now. Anyhow, we can't see any more," for it was now quite
dark.
"All right," agreed Jed. "Back to camp it is."
They turned, and thought they were taking the same path they had used in
coming up. But they had not traveled far before they were made aware
that it was not the right one.
"I don't remember that we passed this big rock before," said Jed,
pausing near one, which, even in the darkness, they could see was
perched on the edge of a deep gully.
"Me either. I wonder if we're on the right trail?"
They paused and, lighting matches, looked about them. They were
observing lads, and it did not take them long to arrive at the
conclusion that they were on a totally different path.
"Will," said Jed solemnly, "we're lost on the mountain, that's all there
is to it."
"Lost! What are we going to do?"
"Stay here until morning, I guess. See if you can find some wood, and
we'll build a fire. This rock will make a good shelter."