The Haunted Mine

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  GRUB-STAKING.

  "Sit down," said Banta, pushing chairs toward the two boys with hisfoot; "I want to talk to you about that mine. What loon has been sofoolish as to grub-stake you?"

  "Grub-stake us?" repeated Julian, for the words were quite new to him.

  "Yes; he does not expect to get his money back again very soon. I meanthe fellow who has furnished you with grub and tools, and such things,to work the mine with."

  "We never heard that before; we did not know there was anybody who_could_ grub-stake us."

  "Say, Pete, what do you think of that?" said Banta, once more pushingthe man who sat nearest him. "Here are a couple of tenderfeet, comeaway out West from--where did you come from?"

  "From St. Louis; this is as far West as we have ever been."

  "Here are a couple of tenderfeet from St. Louis who didn't know thatthey could get anybody to grub-stake them," continued Banta. "What doyou think of that?"

  Pete, who had by this time got his wits about him, straightened up,pushed his hat on the back of his head, and regarded the boys withsome curiosity. Julian and Jack looked at him, too, and concluded thathe and Banta were partners in working a mine. He was roughly dressed,but there was a good-natured look about him that made the boys take tohim at once. There were other men, dressed as miners, in the room, andthey all seemed to be interested in the conversation.

  "Then I reckon I shall have to tell you about this grub-stakingbusiness," said Banta, squaring around in his chair so as to face theboys. "You are going to lay in a supply of things yourselves, Isuppose?"

  "Yes, we are; and we shall have to depend on you to tell us what toget."

  "Well, there is plenty of time between this and spring, and we willhave time to talk that over afterward. Now, about this grub-stakingbusiness. There are lots of fellows who come out here who haven't gotthe money to enable them to go prospecting, and what do they do buthunt up some fellow who is willing to buck against a hole in theground, and get their provisions and tools of him. He gets half ofwhat they make. The men stay out there until they have eaten up alltheir provisions and then come in; and if they have had good luck, somuch the better. But if they have wasted their time in looking forgold where there wasn't any to be found, why, so much the worse; thatman is just so much out of pocket.

  "Well, along in '90 Pete and me struck this very town, and we flew solight that we couldn't hardly stay on the ground. We didn't haveenough to buy our next meal with; but we struck a gang whom we knew,and headed along with them for the gold country. Of course we hadnothing, but we managed to strike a grub-stake and went prospecting upthere behind Dutch Flat. We lit into that rock and dirt, working likebeavers, but the sign didn't come right. It looked well enough at thestart, but it did not pan out much. We stuck to it for nearly threemonths, and then concluded that we had better go down and get anothergrub-stake and strike in somewhere else. So I stayed up there alone,and Pete went down and brought up the man that employed us. He lookedat the hole, liked the looks of it, and wanted us to go farther; butPete and I couldn't see it in that light. One word brought on another,and he offered us three hundred dollars for the hole."

  "For the hole!" exclaimed Julian. "And there was not a sign of goldabout it?"

  "Now, hold on till I tell you," returned Banta. "There was a littlesign of gold about it, but there was not enough to pay Pete and me fordigging. We snapped him up quicker'n a flash, and what does that mando? He went down to Dutch Flat, brought up his tools, and set in toworking the hole, and before he had gone two feet farther he struckthe richest vein you ever clapped your eyes on. He took sixtythousand dollars out of it. Now, some of you fellows talk about hardluck. If any of you can beat that story, I'll give you what little Imade on Dutch Flat this summer."

  "That _was_ hard luck, I must say," said Julian. "And you lacked onlytwo feet of being rich?"

  "Only just two feet," returned Banta, "We might have been runningaround now with two niggers to drive the team--one dressed as acoachman and the other as a footman. Pete didn't get over pulling hishair for a month after that."

  "But we are going to stake ourselves next summer," said Julian. "If welose, it will come out of our own pockets. Have you been anywhere nearthis mine that we are going to work?"

  "What do you think of that, Pete?" exclaimed Banta. "He wants to knowif we have been near his mine. Not much! I'll bet there are twohundred miners on Dutch Flat this minute, and not one of them has everseen that mine. They have heard about it, they know there is plentyof gold up there, but nobody has ever been near it. The last two thatwent up there came away so badly frightened that they packed up andleft the country so quick that you could not see them for the dustthey kicked up along the trail. They saw something down there in thepit, and it took all the pluck out of them."

  "What did they see?" asked Julian.

  "Well, perhaps I was a little too fast in saying that they sawsomething," said Banta. "They heard something, and that was as good asthough they had seen it. It first began with a scurrying on theground, as if somebody was hurrying over it. Where it came from nobodyknew; it seemed to fill the air all around them. Before they had timeto get frightened at this there was a shriek that made it appear as ifthe pit was full of unearthly spirits, and then all was still; but thefellows had heard enough. The man down below yelled to his partner topull him up, and when he found himself safe on top he laid down on theground and swore he would never go down there again. Oh, you boyshave something to face, if you are going up there!"

  "Could not the sound they heard have been occasioned by bats that hadbeen disturbed while trying to take a rest?" asked Julian. "He had alight, of course."

  "Bats!" exclaimed Banta, with deep disgust; "it was a great deallarger than bats. And he could have seen them if he had a light, couldhe not?"

  "And, besides, bats don't shriek that way," said a miner who had notspoken before. "There used to be a miner who was working that pitalong with Winkleman----"

  "You hold your yawp," exclaimed Banta, fiercely; "I am telling theboys nothing but facts. I want them to know just what they have toface. I don't go into any of this cock-and-bull story about a deadminer. If that man died up there, and was buried, he's there yet, andhe can't come out to work in the pit any more."

  "What about him?" asked Julian. "We want to know everything connectedwith the mine, then we will be prepared for anything."

  "But this thing is not connected with the mine," said Banta; "it issome sort of a story the miners have, and there is not a word of truthin it. They tell about a miner being seen there by everyone who goesdown, and when you try to get up to him, he is not there. He goesfarther and farther away every time you approach him."

  "We have heard that story before," said Julian, with a smile; "Mr. Fayknows all about it."

  "Then of course you don't believe it. I have told you the truth aboutthe mine, and now you can go up with me next spring or stay away, justas you have a mind to."

  "Oh, we will go with you," said Julian. "I never was interested in anyproperty yet that I was afraid to work just on account of some thingsyou could not see. When we bid you good-bye at Dutch Flat we shallknow what there is in that mine before we come back."

  "I like your pluck," said Banta; and the look of admiration hebestowed upon Julian more than confirmed his words. "If you live upto that, I hope you will get some gold."

  "They say that gold is plenty up there," said another miner. "They sayit is lying around under your feet."

  "And you never went there to get it!" exclaimed Julian with surprise.

  "It isn't as thick as that," said Banta. "Probably every bucketful yousend up to be washed will yield you from ten to fifty dollars. Youwill get rich at that rate."

  "Well, I guess we have troubled you long enough," said Julian, risingto his feet. "We are really obliged to you, Mr. Banta, for offering totake charge of us, although we are nothing but tenderfeet. There areno Indians out there, are there?"

  "Indi
ans!--no; and if there were some on the warpath, we have minersenough up there to make them hunt their holes."

  "I am glad of that; we don't want anything to do with those savages,after what we have read about them. We will see you again, Mr. Banta."

  "Do so, and the next time I will tell you what things you want tobuy, to make your enterprise successful. Good-morning."

  "There's two boys that have gone plumb crazy," said one of the miners,after the door had closed upon Julian and Jack. "I wonder how they gotthat mine, in the first place?"

  "The boys are bound to get gold there, if they can stick it out," saidanother. "One of the men who came down from there showed me a piece ofmetal as big as a marble, which he had picked up on the bottom of thatpit; but the trouble is, can they stick it out?"

  "I believe _they_ will," said Banta, settling down in his chair oncemore. "That boy who did most of the talking is one who has plenty of'sand' to see him through. After they get fairly settled, I believeI'll go up and see how they are getting along."

  "Then you will go without me," said Pete; "I am as close to that mineas I want to be."

  "Well, Jack," said Julian, as he buttoned his coat, "what do you thinkof our mine? Shall we go up and try it? The miners all think there isgold up there."

  "We will have plenty of time to talk about that between this time andspring," returned Jack. "Mr. Haberstro may come up before we get readyto start, and demand his money."

  "I have no fears on that score," replied Julian. "Did not the lawyersay that he did not look for that? But, Jack, I really believe you areafraid of that mine."

  "You need not be. When we get up there, and get things fixed, I willbe the first to go into it."

  "All right. I'll stand back and let you. Now, Jack, what are we goingto do this winter? We can't sit around all the time without somethingto occupy our minds."

  "I have been thinking about that. Let us call on Mr. Fay, and see whathe says."

  Julian thought this a piece of advice worth acting upon, and they benttheir steps toward Mr. Fay's office, where they found him seated, asbefore, with his feet on the desk in front of him. When he saw who hisvisitors were, he jumped up hastily and seized each of them by the armwith a firm grip.

  "Oh, boys, you surely haven't made up your minds to go up to thatmine next spring, have you?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

  "Why, yes, sir," said Julian, somewhat surprised by the man's actions."I reckon it is ours, and we want to see what gold is to be found init."

  "But think of the ghosts you will have to contend with," said Mr. Fay."You will hear scurrying of feet--What was that?" he continued,looking toward a distant part of his office and pulling the boysaround in front of him. "I am certain there is a ghost there."

  Julian and Jack began to see into the matter now. The man was so fullof his fun that he could not keep it in under any circumstances, andit had come to the surface when he saw the boys come into his office.Perhaps a lingering smile around his mouth had something to do withit.

  "I don't believe you heard any ghost there," said Julian; "they are sobusy up there at the mine that they have no time to come down here totrouble you."

  "All right, boys; sit down. What did Banta say the spirits lookedlike?"

  Julian replied that he could not tell, for he had not seen them; andwith this as an introduction he went on and repeated the miner'sconversation as nearly as he could recall it. Mr. Fay listened, highlyamused, and when Julian ceased speaking he said,

  "If you can see them, what's the use of your being afraid? And as forthat phantom miner, that happened a long ways from here. I ought to bekicked for trying to frighten you."

  "It will take something more than that to scare us out," said Julian."Now, Mr. Fay, we want to ask your advice."

  "I am ready to give it. Do you want to invest some property in agold-mine?"

  No; Julian assured him that it had no reference to their property,which was not theirs yet until the court had passed upon it, but itwas in regard to their going to school in order to learn something.Mr. Fay was all attention now, and when Julian spoke of joining somemercantile academy, he slapped his hands down upon his knees as ifthat was the best thing the boys could do.

  "I have no fears that your money will not prove useful to you," saidhe; "the idea of your wanting to go to school is a big feather in yourcaps. Some young men, with such an amount of money as you have comingto you, would loaf around and do nothing until their funds were allgone; but you don't act that way. Believe me, there is an end to thathundred thousand dollars somewhere."

  "That is just what the president of the bank told us when we calledupon him," said Julian. "We have worked so hard for the little moneywe have that we intend to take care of it. But, Mr. Fay, we don'tbelieve that Mr. Gibson did right in giving us these funds."

  "What's the reason you don't?"

  "Why, he said he would have to get word from the court before all theproperty could be turned over to us--"

  "Oh, that's all right; Mr. Gibson knew what he was doing. You willfind it all right when the Judge hears the case. Now, do you knowwhere the business college is situated?"

  Julian was not so sure about that, but he received certaininstructions from Mr. Fay that made him think he could find it; so theboys put on their caps and went out.