The Haunted Mine

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XV.

  HOW A MINE WAS HAUNTED.

  "Well, boys," said Mr. Fay, when they had reached the street and werewalking toward their hotel, "I have somehow taken a great interest inyou, and I am anxious to see you come out all right. It is the mostremarkable thing I ever heard of. You did not know what was in thatbox when you bought it, did you?"

  "No, sir," replied Julian; "it was all sealed up. The auctioneer saidsomething about a miner having hidden the secret of a gold-mine in it,and I bought it for thirty cents."

  "The auctioneer happened to hit the matter right on the head. I willgo with you in search of a cheaper boarding-house than the one atwhich you are now stopping, and you had better remain there until Mr.Gibson hears from those people in St. Louis. That will be two weeks,probably. If, at any time, you grow weary of walking about our city,looking at what little there is worth seeing, come down to the office,and we'll sit there and swap a few lies."

  Mr. Fay continued to talk in this way while they were walking alongthe streets, meanwhile turning several corners, and the longer hetalked the more the boys saw the traits of his Western charactersticking out all over him. He talked like a gentleman, and thenspoiled it all by remarking that they would "swap a few lies" whenthey came around to his office. He had probably been out West so longthat he had become accustomed to Western ways of conversation.

  At length Mr. Fay turned off from the sidewalk, ascended the stepsthat led to the door of a house, saying, as he did so, "Now we will goin here and see what we can do," and rang the door-bell. It was a verydifferent-looking house from the one they had been in the habit ofliving in when in St. Louis. There were no broken-down doors to beopened before they went in, nor any rickety steps to be climbed, buteverything was neat and trim, and kept in perfect order. Amotherly-looking old lady answered Mr. Fay's pull at the bell.

  "Ah! good-morning, Mrs. Rutherford," was the way in which Mr. Faygreeted her. "Let me introduce Julian Gray and John Sheldon. They arelooking around for a cheap boarding-house,--not too cheap, mindyou,--and I have called to see if you have any place in which to hangthem up for the night."

  Mrs. Rutherford was glad to meet Julian and Jack, invited them intothe parlor, and asked them if they wanted a room together. The boysreplied that they did, and she conducted them upstairs, to show them aroom that was vacant. They were gone not more than five minutes, andwhen they came downstairs again Mrs. Rutherford was putting some billsaway in her pocket-book, and the boys acted as though they were wellsatisfied.

  "Well, you have found a place, have you?" said Mr. Fay. "Have youjotted down the street and number?"

  No, the boys had not thought of that, and Julian quickly pulled hisnote-book from his pocket.

  "Your city is somewhat larger than we expected to find it," beganJulian.

  "You don't find many wigwams around here now," answered Mr. Fay. "Wekeep spreading out all the time. Can you boys find the way back toyour hotel?"

  Julian and Jack thought they could find it if they were given timeenough, but Mr. Fay thought he had better go with them. It was righton the road to his office, and he walked off so rapidly that his youngcompanions were obliged to increase their speed in order to keep upwith him. Before they had gone a great way, Julian, who was anxious tolearn all he could about their surroundings, asked how far it was tothe mountains behind them. Mr. Fay had evidently answered suchquestions before, for all he said in reply was,

  "How far do you think it is?"

  "I think two miles would cover the distance," he answered, for he wasdetermined he would guess enough while he was about it.

  "How far do _you_ say it is, John?" said Mr. Fay, turning to Jack.

  "I would rather be excused from expressing an opinion, but I think wecould walk out there in two hours."

  "And come back the same day?"

  "Why, yes; certainly."

  "Now, let me tell you," said Mr. Fay: "If you have made up your mindsto go out to the mountains, hire a good, fast walking-horse, and goout one day and come back the next."

  "Is it as far as that?" exclaimed the boys, looking at each other withamazement.

  "It is all of twelve miles. You must take into consideration that theair is very rare up here, and that things appear nearer than they are.You are 5135 feet above the level of the sea."

  "My goodness! I didn't think we were so far out of the world!"

  "We have awfully uncertain weather here," continued Mr. Fay, "butstill we regard our climate as healthy. Our thermometer sometimeschanges as much as forty degrees in twenty-four hours. SinceProfessor Loomis took charge of the matter, the mercury has changedforty-five times in one day. What sort of a place did you expect tofind Denver, anyway?"

  "Well, I did not know what sort of a place it was," said Julian. "Wethought we should find more wigwams here than houses, and you can'timagine how surprised we were when we found ourselves in a depot fullof people."

  "Denver used to be full of wigwams, but it is not so now. Until theyear 1858 the Indians lived in peace; but in that year gold wasdiscovered by W. G. Russell, a Georgian, on the banks of the riverPlatte, which is but a little way from here, and that settled thebusiness of the Indians in a hurry. Denver, Black Hawk, Golden City,and many other cities that I can't think of now, were founded in 1859,and a host of immigrants appeared. Since that time we have beenspreading out, as I told you, until we have a pretty good-sized city."

  "It shows what Western men can do when they once set about it," saidJack. "Now, answer another question while you are about it, if youplease. If the mercury changes forty degrees in twenty-four hours,working in the mines must be dangerous business."

  "That depends upon where you are working," said Mr. Fay. "If you areat work in a placer-mine, you stand a good chance of leaving yourbones up there for somebody to bring home; but if you are workingunder the ground, it does not make any difference. Are you thinking ofgoing out to Dutch Flat to try your hand at it? I don't know wherethat is, but you can find plenty of men here who can tell you."

  "I have not said anything to Julian about it, but I think that wouldbe one of the best things we could do. You see, we are not settled inthat property yet."

  "I see," said Mr. Fay. "Gibson may get word from those fellows in St.Louis that you are impostors, and that you stole that box instead ofbuying it at a sale of 'old horse.' That would be rough on you."

  The boys did not know how to take this remark. They looked at Mr. Fay,but he was walking along as usual, with his hands in his pockets,bowing right and left to the many persons he met on the streets, anddid not seem to think anything of it. Perhaps it was his ordinarystyle of talking.

  "I am not at all afraid of that," remarked Jack. "If he finds usimpostors, we are willing to go to jail."

  Mr. Fay threw back his head and laughed heartily.

  "I have no idea of anything of the kind," said he, as soon as he couldspeak. "I was just wondering what you would think of it. But what wereyou going to say?"

  "This property is not settled on us yet," replied Jack, "and we maywant something to keep us in grub while we are here. We have a perfectright to work that mine, have we not?"

  "If you can find it--yes. Go up there, and if nobody else is workingit, pitch in and take fifty thousand dollars more out of it."

  "And what will we do if somebody else is working it?"

  "You had better give up to them, unless you think you are strongenough to get the better of them. But you need not worry about that.The mine is haunted, and you won't catch any of the miners goingaround where ghosts are."

  "Who do you suppose are haunting it?" asked Julian. "That letter saysthe writer worked the mine alone, and took lots of money out of it,and never saw a thing to frighten him."

  "Perhaps somebody has been murdered up there; I don't know. You won'tsee anything until you get down in the mine, and then you want to lookout. I heard of a mine up at Gold Cove that was haunted in that way.There were a dozen miners tried it, and each one came away withoutgetting
anything, although the gold was lying on top of the ground. Asoften as a miner went below (it was about thirty feet down to thebottom), he was sure to see somebody at work there before him. He waspicking with a tool at the bottom of the shaft in order to loosen itup, accompanying every blow he made with a sonorous 'whiz!' whichshowed that he was an Irishman. Some of the miners retreated to theirbucket and signaled to their helper to pull them up, and you couldn'thire them to go into the mine again. Others, with a little morebravery than they had, went up to put their hands on the man, but asfast as they advanced he retreated; and when they got to the end ofthe shaft, the phantom miner was still ahead, and picking away as fastas ever."

  "Then the mine is deserted?"

  "Yes, and has been for years. It is one of the richest mines aroundhere, too."

  "Why, I should think somebody would shoot him," said Jack.

  "Shoot him! He has been shot at more times than anybody could count;but he pays no attention to it. He is a ghost, and he knows you can'thurt him. I never saw it, and, what is more, I don't want to; but Iwould not go down into that mine for all the gold there is in thehills."

  "Did anybody think a murder had been committed somewhere aroundthere?" said Julian.

  "I never heard that there was."

  "Well, I just wish our mine would be haunted with something likethat," said Jack. "I would find out what he was, and what business hehad there, or I would know the reason why."

  "Well, you may have a chance to try it. Does this look like yourhotel? Now I will bid you good-bye, and I will see you againto-morrow, if you come around."

  Mr. Fay departed, taking with him the hearty thanks of the boys forall his kindness and courtesy, and then they slowly ascended the stepsto the office. They had secured one thing by his attentions to them--aboarding-house at which the money they had in their pockets would keepthem safely for a month, if it took Mr. Gibson that long to hear fromSt. Louis; but, on the whole, Jack wished Mr. Fay had not used hisWestern phraseology so freely.

  "Does he want us to work that mine or not?" asked Jack.

  "I don't know. He talked pretty readily, did he not?"

  "I wonder if that is the way all Westerners talk? Did he scare youout of going up there to that mine?"

  "No, sir," replied Julian, emphatically. "Do you know that I ratherlike that man? He reminds me of Mr. Wiggins, and talks exactly likehim."

  "What do you suppose it was that those fellows saw in that mine?"

  "I give it up. Some of these Western men are good shots with arevolver, and it seems to me they might have struck the fellow if theyhad had a fair chance at him."

  "But he was a ghost, you know."

  "Oh, get out! If they saw him there, you can bet that there _was_somebody there. Some of the miners had their minds all made up to seesomething, and of course they saw it."

  "But how do you account for that 'whiz!' that he uttered every time hestruck with his pick?"

  "They never heard any 'whiz!' coming from that man; they only imaginedit."

  "Do you think their ears could be deceived, as well as their eyes?"

  "Jack, I am surprised at you. You are big enough and strong enough towhip any ghost that I ever saw, and yet you are afraid to go down inthat mine!"

  "Wait until we find it, and then I'll show you whether I am afraid ornot. Now, if you will go on and pay our bill and have our trunkbrought down, I'll go and get a carriage."

  In five minutes this was done, and the boys were soon on their way totheir boarding-house.