The Haunted Mine

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER IX.

  THE MASTER MECHANIC.

  "Well, sir, what do you think of that?" said Julian, when he wascertain that Claus had gone down the stairs and out on the street. "Hehad better try some other way of getting that box."

  "He has failed," said Jack, putting a frying-pan filled with bacon onthe stove. "Casper Nevins is at the bottom of that. I tell you, thatmoney is safe yet."

  "Do you know that I looked upon it as gone when he first came here andhanded out his card?" said Julian. "I thought he was Haberstro, sureenough."

  "I confess that I thought so, too. Now let us go on and get supper.The next time we save that money, somebody else will have a hand init."

  "Why, will we have to fight for it?"

  "It looks that way to me now. We don't know anything about business,and the first thing we know we'll get tripped up."

  "I did not think of that," said Julian, drawing a long breath. "I wishMr. Wiggins were going out to Denver with us. I will get advice fromhim before we start."

  "We have not got out there yet," said Jack, with a laugh. "If we doget there, we will go to the lawyer who drew up those deeds. He mustbe an honest man."

  The boys continued to talk in this way until the room was swept up andthe dishes washed, and when bedtime came they went to sleep. The nextmorning found them on duty again. Casper was not there to greet himand make inquiries concerning the box, but there were other boys therewho wanted to know why Casper had been discharged. They appealed toJulian, for he was in the back room shortly before; but he thought thebest thing he could do was to keep a still tongue in his head.

  "Mr. Wiggins knows why he discharged Casper, and if he won't tell you,I don't know where else you can apply."

  "You had a hand in it and I know it," said one boy who was enough likeCasper to have been his brother. "Maybe you are a spy on us."

  "You come out in the back yard and I'll show you who is a spy!" saidJulian, rising to his feet. "No one ever accused me of that before. IfI am a spy, you want to do your duty right up to the handle."

  This was something new on Julian, for we know how hard he worked tokeep the police off from Casper's track. Some of the other boys turnedaway as if they were quite willing to believe that Julian was seekingfor promotion, while some others stood up close to him, as if toassure him of their protection.

  "If you will stay by me when Mr. Wiggins comes here, I will ask himbefore you if I had anything to do with Casper's discharge. He willtell you the truth."

  But the boys wisely appealed to him not to do that. Since Casper hadbeen discharged, they wanted their skirts clear of him, and the bestway to do that would be to say nothing about it.

  "But, Julian, you want to keep clear of that fellow who called you aspy," said one of the boys. "He has been jealous of you for a longtime, in fact ever since the day you came into the office, and just assoon as he gets a good chance he is going to split on you."

  "Thank you; I did not suppose I had an enemy in this city. Let himkeep watch, if he wants to. My conduct will bear investigation."

  Julian did not do his work with his usual energy that day, for hecould not bear to think that one boy was acting as a spy upon him. Hecarried his dispatches as well as he could, never stopping to gaze inat the prize windows or to make one of a crowd who gathered aroundsome show that had stopped for a moment on a corner, and that was aswell as anybody could do. Jack laughed loudly when he saw what agloomy face Julian had on when he told him of the matter.

  "What do you care for spies?" said Jack. "Do your duty faithfully, andthen you will be all right. In our place we don't have any suchthings. The boys are always glad to see me promoted, for they thinkthey have a new mechanic to assist them when they get into trouble."

  For another month things moved along in their usual way, and nothingwas heard from Mr. Haberstro. Julian did not meet Casper or Claus, forthey had disappeared completely. He held frequent and earnestconsultations with Mr. Wiggins on the subject of the box, put otheradvertisements in the papers, and finally Mr. Wiggins took Julian downto the bank and talked to the president. It excited Julian wonderfullyto know that the box was theirs.

  "I should not wait any longer, if I were in your place," said thepresident. "You have done all that you can to find the owner, and hedoes not make his appearance. You can go out there and lay claim tothe property, and enjoy it; and if at any time this Mr. Haberstroturns up, you can give the property over to him. But I want you to becareful in what you are doing. There are plenty of Haberstros in theworld who would like nothing better than to get that box."

  "By George, Jack," said Julian, when he went home that night, "did Inot tell you that that box was ours? I have talked with the presidentof the bank about it, and he says we can go out there and enjoy thatproperty."

  Jack took his usual seat, with his leg thrown over the table, andlooked at Julian without speaking. He had never laid great stress onhaving that box. He supposed that Haberstro would show himself in duetime, and all they would have to do would be to give up the money andgo on with their work. His good fortune was a little too much for himto take in all at once. A dollar a day was pretty big wages for him,and he supposed that it would last till he learned his trade, and thatthen he would receive more money. But a hundred thousand dollars, tosay nothing of the gold-mine! Why, that mine had already yielded itsowner fifty thousand dollars!

  "Jack, why don't you say something?" exclaimed Julian. "You don't actas though you were a bit pleased. I wish, now, that I had been a mileaway when that box was put up for sale."

  Jack roared. He was always ready to laugh when Julian talked in thisway.

  "I am very glad you _were_ there when it was sold," said he; "but theidea of owning so much money rather takes my breath away. I was justwondering what we would do if some more Haberstros came up anddemanded the money. I suppose there are some men like that in Denver,as well as there are here."

  "The president cautioned me about that. He told me to be careful inwhat we did. Now, Jack, when will we start?"

  "I don't know. I shall have to see the master mechanic about that. Youknow that I am as deeply indebted to him as you are to Mr. Wiggins."

  "Does he know about the box?"

  "Not a thing. I thought I had better see you about that before Ibroached the subject to him."

  "Well, then, tell it to him to-morrow. We don't want to be any longerin getting out there than we can help. We want to be there before thesnow flies, or the first thing we know we'll be snowed up."

  "Are you going to see Mr. Wiggins about it?"

  "I am. Let us go out to Denver at once."

  "I tell you it comes hard to say good-bye to those fellows; I havebeen with them so long that I hate to do it. If I get in trouble inany way, they will always help me out."

  The next day Julian talked to Mr. Wiggins about going out to Denver,and the latter's face grew grave at once. He could not bear to letJulian go out there among strangers. He had always had him under hiseye, was waiting for a chance to promote him, and now he was goingaway.

  "I will go down and get the box," said he. "And remember one thing,Julian: You may get into a hard row of stumps out there, and I wantyou to write to me fully and plainly of what you are doing. If youwant some money, say so; and if you want to come back here in theoffice, say that also, and I will try and make room for you."

  Julian's eyes filled with tears when he saw Mr. Wiggins go out on thestreet and turn toward the bank. He found, with Jack, that it wasgoing to be hard work to say good-bye. When he went out into the otherroom, the boys noticed at once that he had been crying.

  "Aha!" said the boy who had once accused him of being a spy, "you havecome up with a round turn, have you?"

  "Yes," said Julian, "I've got it at last."

  "It serves you right!" said the boy. "If Wiggins gave it to you inpretty good order I shall be satisfied. You know now how Casper feltwhen he was discharged."

  "Are you discharged, Julian?" whispered another of the b
oys.

  "I guess I have got something like it," was the reply; "you won't seeme here to-morrow."

  Julian walked to the window and looked out on the street, and in a fewminutes Mr. Wiggins came up with the box. The boy followed him intothe back room, all the boys, of whom there were half a dozen in theoffice, looking on with surprise. Mr. Wiggins's face was grave, buthe was not angry, and they did not know what to make of it.

  "I think I would do this up and send it by express--wouldn't you?"said he. "If this is put in your trunk, and the cars run off the trackand get smashed, your trunk might get smashed, too, and the box withit. Before I put the cover on I will write a letter to our agent inDenver. I have never seen him, but that won't matter; and then, if youwant any good advice, go to him. Come in in the course of half anhour--"

  "No, sir!" said Julian, emphatically; "I am going to do my duty aslong as I stay in the office."

  "Well, go ahead; I will give you the box, sealed and addressed toyourself, to-night."

  Julian went out and took his seat among the boys, and about half ofthem felt a little bit sorry for him, but the other half did not. Herewas one favorite out of the way, and consequently there was a chancefor somebody else. Presently his name was called, and then Julian wentaway to deliver his dispatch.

  When six o'clock came, Julian went into the back room and received thepackage.

  "You will be around here before you go?" said Mr. Wiggins, extendinghis hand. "Then I won't bid you good-bye. Take this box to the expressoffice and send it off. Have you any money?"

  Yes, Julian had plenty of money. Did Mr. Wiggins suppose that he wasgoing to spend all his month's wages in two days? He took the box andwent out, and took his way toward the express office, wondering whatthe clerk would say if he knew what was in that package. The clerkturned out to be the same one who had given him the box, but he saidnothing about it; and when Julian had paid the express charges on ithe came out and started for home. As he was going up the stairs heheard the sound of voices in the room, and opened the door to find aman there, dressed in his best, and with a very smiling face, which heturned toward Julian.

  "So this is the boy who bought himself rich," said he, getting on hisfeet "I know you from the description I have received of youruniform. I congratulate you heartily, but I am sorry you are going totake Jack away from me. When you are awful home-sick, and are short ofmoney, you can write to me, and I will send you something to come homeon."

  "This is Mr. Dawson, our master mechanic," said Jack.

  "I am glad to meet you, Mr. Dawson," said Julian, shaking the man'shand very cordially. "Jack often found fault with me for going to thatoffice, but I struck it once,--didn't I?"

  "Well, I should say you _did_," returned Mr. Dawson, with a laugh;"you couldn't do it again if you were to try it your lifetime."

  "Sit down, sir; we will have supper ready after awhile, and you mustjoin us."

  "That's just what I came up here for. Jack is going away prettyshortly, and I shall not see him any more, so I came up to be with himas long as I could."

  Mr. Dawson moved back his chair so that he would not be in the way,and Julian pulled off his coat and went to work; but he saw by theextra bundles there were on the table that his chum had been goingback on his principles. There were cream cakes and peaches by thedozen, as well as sundry other little things that Jack had purchasedfor supper. It was a better meal than they had been accustomed to fora long time, and if there was any faith in the way that mastermechanic asked for peaches, he thoroughly enjoyed it.

  "I hope you boys will live this way while you are gone," said he, ashe pushed back his chair and declined having any more. "You mustremember that a hundred thousand dollars don't go very far. Therecertainly is an end to it, and the first thing you know you'll bethere. Now, I hope you fellows won't object if I smoke a cigar?"

  The "fellows" did not object, nor did he raise any complaint when theyproceeded to wash the dishes. It was eleven o'clock when Mr. Dawsonsaid it was time he was going home, and when the boys felt the heartygrasp of his hand at parting, they told themselves that there was onefriend they were leaving behind.