The Haunted Mine

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XVII.

  MR. BANTA IS SURPRISED.

  "You fellows look surprised," said Mr. Gibson, running his eyes fromone to the other of the boys. "It seems to me, if a man told me I hadthat amount of money coming to me, and that I had ten thousand dollarswhere I could draw on it at my leisure, this room would not hold me; Ishould want the whole city to splurge in."

  The boys made no reply. Jack drew his hand once or twice across hisforehead, as if to brush away some wrinkles, while Julian got up andwalked to the window.

  "You did not expect to get it--did you?" continued Mr. Gibson.

  "No, sir, we did not," replied Julian; "but we hoped to get it. Wetried our level best to find Mr. Haberstro, following the advice ofMr. Wiggins in everything he told us to do; but he was out of ourreach."

  "He is dead, probably," said Mr. Gibson. "I know just what you triedto do, and all about it. Of course there will be some law to gothrough with before you can step into the property. Do you wish me totake charge of it for you?"

  "Oh, Mr. Gibson, we really wish you would. We know nothing about law,and consequently we should not know how to act."

  "And do you wish me to take charge of the rental of your blocks ofbuildings?"

  "Yes, sir; go on just as you did before, and when we want money wewill come to you."

  "Well, that is a different thing altogether," said Mr. Gibson, lookingdown at the floor. "The twenty thousand dollars that I told you of isnow in the bank, subject to my order. I guess I had better go up therewith you and have it changed. You can then get money whenever you wantit. By the way, Julian, Mr. Wiggins sent his kindest regards to you;and, furthermore, he gave me a letter which he wished me to hand toyou. I've got one for you, Jack, from your boss; what do you callhim?"

  "Master mechanic," replied Jack.

  Mr. Gibson opened his desk and took out two letters, which he gave tothe boys. The sight of Mr. Wiggins's handwriting on the envelope wasalmost too much for Julian, for he put the letter into his pocket andwalked to the window again.

  "There is some good advice in those letters, and I want you boys tofollow it out implicitly," said the lawyer. "You will always find mehere, ready to tell you what to do in case you get into trouble. Youmust come to me or to Mr. Fay every time you get into a box. But,first and foremost, don't have anything to do with strangers. Thereare some of them who are bound to hear of your good fortune, and willtake every means in their power to get hold of it. Don't sign anypapers unless you bring them to me."

  "We have already had a little experience in that line," said Julian,with a smile. "Claus came up to us and tried to pass himself off forMr. Haberstro, and he is the one who stole our valises on our wayhere; but he didn't make anything by it."

  "Yes--I heard all about this man Claus, and about that friend ofyours, Casper Nevins. You know enough to steer clear of such fellowsin future. Now, if you are all through, we'll go up to the bank."

  The boys followed Mr. Gibson out of the office, along the street,turning three or four corners, until they reached the bank. He did nothave any business to do with the man who stood behind the deskcounting out the money, but he simply asked him,

  "Is E. A. in?"

  "Yes, sir; he is in his private office," replied the cashier.

  The boys did not know who E. A. was, but they found out a momentlater, for the lawyer led them into the presence of the president ofthe bank. He was gray-headed and wore a pair of gold spectacles, buthe stopped his work and shook Mr. Gibson warmly by the hand. He lookedcuriously at the boys, but when the lawyer began his story, talkingvery rapidly, for there was a card hung up over his desk which said onit, "This is my busy day," he laid down his pen and glanced at Julianand Jack with some interest.

  "And you want the twenty thousand dollars changed, so that it will besubject to their order?" said he.

  "Yes, sir, that is my errand up here."

  The president got upon his feet and walked into the room where thecashier was. When he went, the boys had not more than ten dollars intheir pockets that they could call their own; when he came back, theyhad a small fortune coming to them.

  "It is all right," said he. "And which of you boys was it who bid onthe 'old horse?'" he continued, extending a hand to each of them. "Youare the one? Well, my son, remember that there is an end to your moneysomewhere, and if you go to work and spend it all without waiting forsome more to come in, the end of it is not far off. I wish you goodluck."

  The boys retraced their steps to the cashier's desk, and the transferof the property from Mr. Gibson's order to their own was easilycompleted. Mr. Gibson signed a check, the boys attached their namesto a big book which was thrust out at them, and then the cashierwanted to know if they needed any money.

  "We would like about one hundred dollars apiece," said Julian.

  "Very well; make out a check for it and sign your names to it, and youcan get it all right. You will find the checks there on that desk."

  The boys accordingly made out their checks for the money, and Mr.Gibson stood watching them, smiling to himself when he saw how theboys' hands trembled, and how anxious they were to have everythingcorrect. The money was paid on the checks, and Julian and Jack put itinto their pockets.

  "You got it, didn't you?" said the lawyer.

  "Yes, sir; thanks to you, we have got it," said Julian. "Mr. Gibson, Ican't begin to tell you how much we thank you----"

  "Oh, that is all right," said the lawyer, opening the door of thebank; "only, don't get into a fuss and lose it all."

  "When we came here," continued Julian, "we had no money at all; nowsee how different it is! I assure you that we are not going to getinto any fuss. The money is safe where it is."

  "Well, let it stay there. I am pretty busy this morning, so I beg thatyou will excuse me. Good-bye."

  The lawyer hurried away, and Julian stood a little on one side of thedoor of the bank, one hand thrust into his pocket where he had placedthe bills, and his eyes fastened upon Mr. Gibson as long as heremained in sight.

  "Say, Jack," said he, suddenly; "I don't believe Mr. Gibson had anyright to give us this money."

  "He hadn't?" exclaimed Jack. "Why, it was his."

  "No, it was not; it belongs to that Haberstro estate. It seems to mehe ought to have got an order from the court before giving any of themoney up to us."

  "Perhaps he has an order," said Jack.

  "Then why did he not say something about it? I would like to know whenthe court sits. If the Judge finds any blundering in the business,why, then we are up a stump. What will we do if this man Haberstrocomes up, all on a sudden, and tells us he wants this hundreddollars?"

  "Whew!" said Jack; "I did not think of that."

  "But Mr. Gibson probably knew what the decision of the court was goingto be or he would not have done this," added Julian, after a moment'spause. "I guess we are all right, but I shall feel better when we haveall that property in our hands."

  Julian wished now, when it was too late, that he had not spoken toJack about this. During the dinner hour he was unusually silent andthoughtful, and the landlady's questioning could not get a word out ofhim. He would arouse up long enough to reply, and then he would fallto thinking again.

  "I will never tell you another piece of news as long as I live," saidJulian, as they went up to their room to get ready to accompany Mr.Fay to call on the miner. "You always have enough to say at dinner,but to-day you were as solemn as an owl."

  "I could not help it," said Jack. "If that man who owns this propertyturns up here, I tell you we shall be in a fix. We shall spend thisbefore the winter is over, and how are we to get a hundred dollars topay him? I'll speak to Mr. Gibson about that the next time I see him."

  "I believe that would be a good plan," said Julian, after thinking thematter over. "I'll bet you that he has some good reason for it."

  In due time the boys arrived at Mr. Fay's office, and found him readyto accompany them. All he said was that he was going out for half anhour, and if anybod
y came to see him he was to be told that he wouldsoon be back; and then he set off, with his long strides, to lead theway to Salisbury's hotel. The boys found it as much as they could doto keep up with him.

  "I guess you have been a messenger-boy in your day," said Julian.

  "I was a messenger-boy for six years," replied Mr. Fay. "Of course Idid not want to hold that position all my life, so I learnedtelegraphy at odd times, and got my promotion as fast as I wasqualified for it, until at last I got where you see me now. That's theway that young men ought to do--look out for promotion."

  "We received good news down there at Mr. Gibson's office," continuedJulian.

  "I knew you would. Have you the property all in your hands?"

  "No; there is some law-business to go through with, first. We told Mr.Gibson to go ahead with it, as he did before."

  "That was the best thing that you ever did," said Mr. Fay, earnestly."Gibson is an honest man, even if he is a lawyer, and you will getevery cent that is coming to you. Now, then, here we are. You willfind this rather a different hotel from the one you first stopped atwhen you came here, but the old fellow makes lots of money out of theminers. There is nobody stays here except those who have shovelleddirt."

  Mr. Fay opened the door as he spoke, and the boys speedily foundthemselves in the living-room of the hotel. Before they had time tolook around them the chief telegraph operator walked up and laid hishand upon the shoulder of a man who sat with his back to him.

  "You are here yet, are you, Banta?" said he.

  "Yes," replied the miner, looking up to see who it was that accostedhim. "I am on hand, like a bogus coin made out of iron pyrites; youcan't get rid of me."

  "I have brought some boys with me who would like to know somethingabout the mines at which you are working," said Mr. Fay; and heproceeded to introduce Julian and Jack.

  Banta speedily proved that he was a gentleman, for he straightway gotupon his feet to shake hands with the boys.

  "All right," said the miner; "if anybody can tell them about DutchFlat, I am the man."

  "They are going to stay here this winter, and go out with you nextspring," Mr. Fay went on.

  "All right," said the miner, again; "I will put them where they candig gold so fast that you won't see anything but gold coming out ofthe pit."

  "But they have a gold-mine up there already."

  "They have? Where is it located?"

  Mr. Fay could not answer this question, so he stood aside and waitedfor Julian to tell him the whereabouts of the mine. The boy began byasking him,

  "Do you know the mine that Winkleman used to work when he was here?"

  Mr. Banta started, and looked at Julian to see if he was in deadearnest. The boy gazed fixedly at him, and the miner finally settledback in his chair and pulled himself down until his neck rested on theback of it.

  "Of course I know that mine," said he. "You don't think of workingthere, do you?"

  "We thought some of trying it," replied Julian.

  "Pete, what do you think of that?" asked Mr. Banta, pushing his handagainst the shoulder of the man who sat nearest him, with his eyesclosed, as if he were fast asleep. "Here are two boys going up toDutch Flat next spring to work the Winkleman mine."

  "Well," replied Pete, without lifting his head, "I am glad I am notgoing up there."

  "Are the ghosts so awful thick up there?" asked Julian, who felt hiscourage oozing out at the ends of his fingers.

  "You know something about it--don't you? The ghosts are so thick upthere that you can't go down in the mine to shovel a bucketful of dirtwithout scaring some of them up."

  "Well, you will have to excuse me," said Mr. Fay. "I should like tosee what those ghosts are, but my work calls me. You will take chargeof the boys next spring, will you, Mr. Banta?"

  "Sure I will; but they are plumb dunces if they try to work that mine.I will go with them as far as I can, and the balance of the way theywill have to depend on themselves."

  Mr. Fay said he believed they could do that, opened the door and wentout, and Julian and Jack were left alone.