Shadow Mountain

by Dane Coolidge

  CHAPTER X

  THE BEST HEAD IN TOWN

  What was Wiley Holman up to? Virginia paced the floor in a veryunloverlike mood; and at last she sat down and wrote a scathing letterto the assayer, demanding her assay at once. She also enclosed onedollar in advance to test the sample for gold and silver and then, as anafterthought, she enclosed another bill and told him to test it forcopper, lead, and zinc. There was something in that rock--she knew itjust as well as she knew that Wiley was in love with her, and this wasno time to pinch dollars. For ten years and more they had stuck there inKeno, waiting and waiting for something to happen, but now things hadcome to such a pass that it was better to know even the worst. For ifthe mine was barren and Wiley, after all, was only trying in his dumbway to help, then she must pocket her pride and sell him her stock andgo away and hide her head. But if the white quartz was rich--well, thatwould be different; there would be several things to explain.

  Yet, if the quartz was barren, why did Wiley offer to buy her stock, andif it was rich, why did he sell his tax deed? And if his father stoodready to pay ten cents a share for two hundred thousand shares of stockwhy did Wiley refuse to redeem her mother's holdings for a petty eighthundred dollars? He must have the money, for his diamond ring alone wasworth well over a thousand dollars; and he had tried repeatedly to getpossession of this same stock which he now refused to accept as a gift.Virginia thought it over until her head was in a whirl and at last shestamped her foot. The assay would tell, and if he had been trying tocheat her--she drew her lips to a thin, hard line and looked more thanever like her mother.

  The work at the Paymaster went on intermittently, but Blount's earlyzest was lacking. For eight, yes, ten years he had waited patientlyfor the moment when he should get control of the mine; but now that heheld it, without let or hindrance, somehow his enthusiasm flagged.Perhaps it was the fact that the timbering was expensive and that hisgropings for the lost ore body came to nothing; but in the back of hismind Blount's growing distrust dated from the day he had boughtWiley's quit-claim. Wiley had come to the mine full of fury andaggressiveness, as his combat with Stiff Neck George clearly showed;but after he had gone down and inspected the workings he had sold outfor one hundred dollars. And Wiley Holman was a mining engineer, witha name for Yankee shrewdness--he must have had a reason.

  Blount recalled his men from the drifts where they had been working andset them to crosscutting for the vein. It was too expensive, restoringall the square-sets and clearing out the fallen rock; and he had learnedto his sorrow that Colonel Huff had blown up every heading withdynamite. In that tangle of shattered timbers and caved-in walls theminers made practically no progress, for the ground was treacherous andten years under water had left the wood soft and slippery. To be surethe hidden chute lay at the breast of some such drift; but to clear themall out, with his limited equipment and no regular engineer in charge,would run up a staggering account. So Blount began to crosscut, and tosink along the contact, but chiefly to cut down expenses.

  With the railroad that had tapped the camp torn up and hauled away,every foot of timber, every stick of powder, cost twice as much as itought. And then there was machinery, and gas and oil for the engine, andvalves and spare parts for the pumps, and the board of the men, andoverhead expenses--and not a single dollar coming in. Blount sat up latein his office, adding total to total, and at the end he leaned backaghast. At the very inside it was costing him two hundred dollars forevery day that he operated the mine. And what was it turning back?Nothing. The mine had been gutted of every pound of ore that it wouldpay to sack and ship, and unless something was done to locate the lostore body and give some guarantee of future values, well, the Paymasterwould have to shut down. Blount considered it soberly, as a business manshould, and then he sent for Wiley Holman.

  There were others, of course, to whom he might appeal; but he sent forWiley first. He was a mining engineer, he had had his eye on theproperty and--well, he probably knew something about the lost vein. Sohe sent a wire, and then a man; and at last Holman, M. E., arrived. Hecame under protest, for he had been showing a mine of his own to somefour-buckle experts from the east, and when Blount made his appeal hesnorted.

  "Well, for the love of Miguel!" he exclaimed, starting up. "Do you thinkI'm going to help you for nothing? I'm a mining engineer, and the leastit will cost you is five hundred dollars for a report. No, I don't thinkanything; and I don't know anything; and I won't take your mine onshares. I'm through--do you get me? I sold out my entire interest forone hundred dollars, cash. That puts me ahead of the game, up to date;and while I'm lucky I'll quit."

  He stamped out of the office--Blount having moved into the bank buildingwhere he had formerly officiated as president--and made a break for hismachine; but other eyes had marked his arrival in town and Death ValleyCharley button-holed him.

  "Say," he said, "do you want something good--an option on tenfirst-class claims? Well, come with me; I'll make you an offer thatyou can't hardly, possibly refuse."

  He led Wiley up an alley, then whisked him around corners and back tohis house behind the Widow's.

  "Now, listen," he went on, when Wiley was in a chair and he hadcarefully fastened the door, "I'm going to show you something good."

  He reached under his bed and brought out ten sacks of samples which hespread, one by one, on the table.

  "Now, you see?" he said. "It's all that white quartz that you was afteron the Paymaster dump. I followed the outcrop, on an extension of thePaymaster, and I took up ten, good, opened claims."

  "Umm," murmured Wiley, and examined each sample with a careful,appraising eye. "Yes, pretty good, Charley; I suppose you guarantee thetitle? Well, how much do you want for your claims?"

  "Oh, whatever you say," answered Charley modestly, "but I want twohundred dollars down."

  "And about a million apiece, I suppose, for the claims? It doesn't cost_me_ anything, you know, on an option."

  "Eh, heh, heh," laughed Charley indulgently and Heine, who had beenlooking from face to face, jumped up and barked with delight. "Eh, heh;yes, that's good; but you know me, Mr. Holman--I ain't so crazy as theythink. No, I don't talk millions with my mouth full of beans; all I wantis five hundred apiece. But I got to have two hundred down."

  "Oh," observed Wiley, "that's two dollars for the marriage license andthe rest for the wedding journey. Well, if it's as serious as that----"He reached for his check-book and Charley cackled with merriment.

  "Yes, yes," he said, "then I _would_ be crazy. Do you know what theColonel told me?

  "'Charley,' he says, 'whatever you do, don't marry no talking woman.She'll drive you crazy, the same as I am; but don't you forget thatwhiskey.'"

  "Oh, sure," exclaimed Wiley, beginning to write out the option, "thismoney is to buy whiskey for the Colonel!"

  "That's it," answered Charley. "He's over across Death Valley--in theUbe-Hebes--but I can't find my burros. They--Heine, come here, sir!"Heine came up cringing and Charley slapped him soundly. "Shut up!" hecommanded and as Heine crept away Death Valley began to mutter tohimself. "No, of course not; he's dead," he ended ineffectively, andWiley looked up from his writing.

  "Who's dead?" he inquired, but Charley shook his head and listenedthrough the wall.

  "Look out," he said, "I can hear her coming--jest give me that twohundred now."

  "Well, here's twenty," replied Wiley, passing over the money, and thenthere came a knock at the door.

  "Come in!" called out Charley and, as he motioned Wiley to be silent,Virginia appeared in the doorway.

  "Oh!" she cried, "I didn't know you were here!" But something in the wayshe fixed her eyes on him convinced Wiley that she had known, all thesame.

  "Just a matter of business," he explained with a flourish, "I'mconsidering an option on some of Charley's claims."

  "Jest my bum claims!" mumbled Charley as Virginia glanced at himreprovingly. "Jest them ten up north of the Paymaster."

  "Oh," she said and drew back towards the door,
"well, don't let me breakup a trade."

  "You'd better sign as a witness," spoke up Wiley imperturbably, and shestepped over and looked at the paper.

  "What? All ten of those claims for five hundred apiece? Why, Charley,they may be worth millions!"

  "Well, put it down five million, then," suggested Wiley, grimly. "Howmuch do you want for them, Charley?"

  "Five hundred dollars apiece," answered Charley promptly, "but they'sgot to be two hundred down."

  "Well?" inquired Wiley as Virginia still regarded him suspiciously, andthen he beckoned her outside. "Say, what's the matter?" he askedreproachfully. "Let the old boy make his touch--he wants that twohundred for grub."

  "He does not!" she spat back. "I'm ashamed of you, Wiley Holman; takingadvantage of a crazy man like that!"

  "Well, I don't know," he began in a slow, drawling tone that cut her tothe quick, "he may not be as crazy as you think. I've just been offereda half interest in the Paymaster if I'll come out and take charge ofit."

  "You _have_!" she cried, starting back and staring as he regardedher with steely eyes. "Well, are you going to take it?"

  "I don't know," he answered. "Thought I'd better see you first--it mightbe taking advantage of Blount."

  "Of Blount!" she echoed and then she saw his smile and realized that hewas making fun of her.

  "Yes," went on Wiley, whose feelings had been ruffled, "he may be crazy,too. He sure was looking the part."

  "Now don't you laugh at me!" she burst out hotly. "This isn't as funnyas you think. What's going to happen to us if you take over that mine? Ideclare, you've been standing in with Blount!"

  "I knew it," he mocked. "You catch me every time. But what about Charleyhere--does he get his money or not?" He turned to Death Valley, who wasstanding in the doorway watching their quarrel with startled eyes. "Iguess you're right, Charley," he added, smiling wryly. "It must besomething in the air."

  "Are you going to take that offer," demanded Virginia, wrathfully, "androb me and mother of our mine?"

  "Oh, no," he answered, "I turned it down cold. I knew you wouldn'tapprove."

  "You knew nothing of the kind!" she came back sharply, the angry tearsstarting in her eyes. "And I don't believe he ever made it."

  "Well, ask him," suggested Wiley, and went back into the house,whereupon Death Valley closed the door.

  "Yes," whispered Charley, "it's in the air--there's electricityeverywhere. But what about that option?"

  Wiley sat at the table, his eyes big with anger, his jaw set hardagainst the pain, and then he reached for his pen.

  "All right, Charley," he said, "but don't you let 'em kid you--you'vegot the best business head in town."