“Why not go naow?” eagerly inquired Hopkins.
“It’s too late in the season. I don’t want to be thar when thar’s too much snow onto the ground, and then I must stay yar till I git well over that whack I got on the boat.”
It is hardly necessary to say that the offer of the kind-hearted trapper was accepted with the utmost enthusiasm. Mickey and Ethan were more anxious to go out upon the prairies than they had been a year and a half before, when they started so full of fife and hope for that vast wilderness, and had come back with such discouragement and disgust.
It was arranged that as soon as the succeeding spring had fairly set in, they would set out on their return for St. Louis, where the trapper would meet and accompany them to the wonderful gold region of which he had spoken.
Before continuing their journey homeward, Baldy presented each with a complete outfit, paid their passage to their homes, and gave them a snug sum over. Like the Indian, he never could forget a kindness shown him, nor do too great a favor to those who had so signally benefited him.
So the separation took place again; and, on the following spring Mickey and Ethan appeared in St. Louis, where they had no difficulty in finding their old friend, the trapper.
He had recovered entirely from his prostrating blow, and was expecting them, anxious and glad to join in the promised search for gold. As the fair weather had really begun, there was no time lost in unnecessary delay. The purse of Baldy Bicknell was deep, and he had not the common habit of intoxication, which takes so much substance from a man. He purchased a horse and accouterments for each of his friends; and, before they started westward, saw that nothing at all was lacking in their outfit.
Three weeks later the men drew rein in a tort of valley, very deep but not very wide. It was on the edge of an immense prairie, while a river of considerable size flowed by the rear, and by a curious circuit found its way into the lower portion of the ravine, dashing and roaring forward in a furious canyon.
The edge and interior of the ravine was lined with immense bowlders and rocks, while large and stunted trees seemed to grow everywhere.
“Yar’s what I call Wolf Ravine,” said Baldy when they had spent some time in looking; about them.
“And be the same towken, where is the goold?” inquired Mickey.
“Yes, that there is what I call the important question,” added Ethan.
“That it is, of the greatest account, as me grandmither observed, whin she fell off the staaple, and axed whether her pipe was broke.”
“It’s in thar,” was the reply of the hunter, as he pointed to the wildest-looking portion of the ravine.
“Let’s geit it then.”
“Thar be some other things that have got to be looked after first,” was the reply, “and we’ve got to find a place to stow ourselves away.”
This was a matter of considerable difficulty: but they succeeded at last in discovering a retreat in the rocks, where they were secure from any attack, no matter by how formidable a number made.
After this, they hunted up a grazing place for their animals, which were turned loose.
They soon found that the trapper had not deceived them. There was an unusually rich deposit of gold in one portion of the ravine, and the men fell to work with a will, conscious that they would reap a rich reward for their labor.
The name, Wolf Ravine, had been given to it by the trapper, because on his first discovery of it he had shot a large mountain wolf, that was clambering up the side; but none others were seen afterward.
But there was one serious drawback to this brilliant prospect of wealth. Indians of the most treacherous and implacable kind were all around them, and were by no means disposed to-let them alone.
On the second day after their labor, a horde of them came screeching down upon them; and had it not been for the safe retreat, which the trapper’s foresight had secured, all three would have been massacred.
As it was, they had a severe fight, and were penned up for the better part of two days, by which time they had slain too many of their enemies that the remaining ones were glad to withdraw.
But when the trapper stole out on a visit to his horses he found that every one had been completely riddled by balls. The treacherous dogs had taken every means of revenge at hand.
“Skin me fur a skunk, but we’ve stood this long as we ought to!” exclaimed Baldy Bicknell, when he returned. “You take care of yourselves till I come back again!”
With which speech he slung his rifle over his shoulder and started for St. Louis.
CHAPTER VII
The Steam Man on His Travels
Young Brainerd had a mortal fear that the existence of the steam man would be discovered by some outsider, when a large crowd would probably collect around his house, and his friends would insist on a display of the powers of the extraordinary mechanism.
But there was no one in the secret except his mother, and there was no danger of her revealing it. So the boy experimented with his invention until there was nothing more left for him to do, except to sit and watch its workings.
Finally, when he began to wonder at the prolonged delay of the trapper, who had visited him some weeks before, he made his appearance as suddenly as if he had risen from the ground, with the inquiry:
“Have you got that thundering old thing ready?”
“Yes: he has been ready for a week, and waiting.”
“Wal, start her out then, fur I’m in a hurry.”
“You will have to wait awhile, for we can’t get ready under half a day.”
It was the hunter’s supposition that the boy was going to start the man right off up street, and then toward the West; but he speedily revealed a far different plan.
It was to box up the man and take it to Independence by steamboat. At that place they would take it out upon the prairie, set it up and start it off, without any fear of disturbance from the crowds which usually collect at such places, as they could speedily run away from them.
When the plan was explained to Baldy, he fully indorsed it, and the labor was begun at once. The legs of the steam man being doubled up, they were able to get it in a box, which gave it the appearance of an immense piano under transportation. This, with considerable difficulty, was transported to the wharf, where, with much grumbling upon the part of the men, it was placed on board the steamboat, quickly followed by the wagon and the few necessary tools.
The boy then bade his mother good-by, and she, suspecting he would be gone but a short time, said farewell to him, with little of the regret she would otherwise have felt, and a few hours later the party were steaming rapidly up the “Mad Missouri.”
Nothing worthy of notice occurred on the passage, and they reached Independence in safety. They secured a landing somewhat above the town, on the western side, where they had little fear of disturbance.
Here the extraordinary foresight and skill of the boy was manifest, for, despite the immense size of the steam man, it was so put together that they were able to load it upon the wagon, and the two, without any other assistance, were able to drag it out upon the prairie.
“You see, it may break down entirely,” remarked young Brainerd, “and then we can load it on the wagon and drag it along.”
“That must be a powerful strong wagon to carry such a big baby in if, as that.”
“So it is; it will hold five times the weight without being hurt in the least.”
It was early in the forenoon when they drew It out upon the prairie in this manner, and began putting it together. It certainly had a grotesque and fearful look when it was stripped of all its bandages, and stood before them in all its naked majesty.
It had been so securely and carefully put away, that it was found uninjured in the least. The trapper could not avoid laughing when the boy clambered as nimbly up its shoulder as another Gulliver, and made a minute examination of every portion of the machinery.
While thus employed, Baldy took the shafts of the wagon, and trotted to a
farm-house, which he descried in the distance, where he loaded it down with wood and filled the tank with water. By the time he returned, Johnny had everything in readiness, and they immediately began “firing up.”
In this they bore quite a resemblance to the modern steam fire engines, acquiring a head of steam with remarkable quickness. As the boy had never yet given the man such an opportunity to stretch his legs as he was now about to do, he watched its motions with considerable anxiety.
Everything was secured in the most careful manner, a goodly quantity of fuel piled on, the boiler filled with water, and they patiently waited the generation of a sufficient head of steam.
“Is it all good prairie land in that direction?” inquired the boy, pointing to the West.
“Thar’s all yer kin want.”
“Then we’ll start. Look out!”
Despite the warning thus kindly given, the steam man started with a sudden jerk, that both of them came near being thrown out of the wagon.
The prairie was quite level and hard, so that everything was favorable, and the wagon went bounding over the ground at a rate so fast that both the occupants were considerably frightened, and the boy quickly brought it down to a more moderate trot.
This speed soon became monotonous, and as it ran so evenly, Baldy said:
“Let her go, younker, and show us what she can do.”
The rod controlling the valve was given a slight pull, and away they went, coursing like a locomotive over the prairies, the wheels spinning round at a tremendous rate, while the extraordinary speed caused the wind thus created almost to lift the caps from their heads, and a slight swell in the prairie sent the wagon up with a bound that threatened to unseat them both.
It worked splendidly. The black smoke puffed rapidly from the top of the hat, and the machinery worked so smoothly that there was scarcely a click heard. The huge spiked feet came lightly to the ground, and were lifted but a short distance from it, and their long sweep and rapid movement showed unmistakably that the steam man was going at a pace which might well defy anything that had yet swept the prairies.
As there was no little risk in running at this speed, and as young Brainerd had not yet become accustomed to controlling it, he slackened the rate again, so that it sank to an easy gliding motion, equal to the rapid trot of an ordinary horse.
Fully ten minutes were passed in this manner, when steam was entirely shut off, whereupon the giant came to such a sudden halt that both were thrown violently forward and bruised somewhat.
“Skulp me! but don’t stop quite so sudden like,” said the hunter. “It’s a little unhandy fur me to hold up so quick!”
“I’ll soon learn to manage it,” replied Johnny. “I see it won’t do to shut off all at once.”
Descending from his perch, he examined every portion of the engine. Several parts were found heated, and the fuel was getting low. The water in the boiler, however, was just right, the engineer having been able to control that from his seat in the wagon.
Throwing in a lot of wood, they remounted to their perch and started forward again. There was an abundance of steam, and the boy readily acquired such a familiarity with the working of his man, that he controlled it with all the skill of an experienced engineer.
The speed was slackened, then increased. It stopped and then started forward again with all the ease and celerity that it could have done if really human, while it showed a reserve of power and velocity capable of performing wonders, if necessary.
As yet they had seen nothing of any travelers. They were quite anxious to come across some, that they might show them what they were capable of doing.
“There must be some passing over the plains,” remarked Johnny, when they had passed some thirty or forty miles.
“Plenty of ’em; but we’ve got out of the track of ’em. If you’ll turn off summat to the left, we’ll run foul of ’em afore dark.”
The boy did as directed, and the rattling pace was kept up for several hours. When it was noon they helped themselves to a portion of the food which they brought with them, without checking their progress in the least. True, while the boy was eating, he kept one eye on the giant who was going at such rapid strides; but that gentleman continued his progress in an unexceptionable manner, and needed no attention.
When the afternoon was mostly gone, Baldy declared that they had gone the better part of a hundred miles.
The boy could hardly credit it at first; but, when he recalled that they had scarcely paused for seven hours, and had gone a portion of the distance at a very high rate, he saw that his friend was not far out of the way.
It lacked yet several hours of dusk, when the trapper exclaimed:
“Yonder is an emigrant train, now make for ’em!”
CHAPTER VIII
Indians
The steam man was headed straight toward the emigrant train, and advanced at a speed which rapidly came up with it.
They could see, while yet a considerable distance away, that they had attracted notice, and the emigrants had paused and ware surveying them with a wonder which it would be difficult to express.
It is said that when Robert Fulton’s first steamboat ascended the Hudson, it created a consternation and terror such as had never before been known, many believing that it was the harbinger of the final destruction of the world.
Of course, at this late day, no such excitement can be created by any human invention, but the sight of a creature speeding over the country, impelled by steam, and bearing such a grotesque resemblance to a gigantic man, could not but startle all who should see it for the first time.
The steam man advanced at a rate which was quite moderate, until within a quarter of a mile of the astonished train, when the boy let on a full head of steam and instantly bounded forward like a meteor. As it came opposite the amazed company, the whistle was palled, and it-gave forth a shriek hideous enough to set a man crazy.
The horses and animals of the emigrant train could be seen rearing and plunging, while the men stood too appalled to do anything except gaze in stupid and speechless amazement.
There were one or two, however, who had sense enough to perceive that there was nothing at all very supernatural about it, and they shouted to them to halt; but our two friends concluded it was not desirable to have any company, and they only slackened their speed, without halting.
But there was one of the emigrants who determined to know something more about it and, mounting his horse, he started after it on a full run. The trapper did not perceive him until he had approached quite close, when they again put on a full head of steam, and they went bounding forward at a rate which threatened to tear them to pieces.
But the keen perception of the boy had detected what they were able to do without real risk: and, without putting his invention to its very best, he kept up a speed which steadily drew them away from their pursuer, who finally became discouraged, checked his animal, and turned round and rode back to his friends, a not much wiser man.
This performance gave our friends great delight. It showed them that they were really the owners of a prize whose value was incalculable.
“Ef the old thing will only last,” said Baldy, when they had sunk down to a moderate trot again.
“What’s to binder?”
“Dunno; yer oughter be able to tell. But these new-fangled things generally go well at first, and then, afore yer know it, they bust all to blazes.”
“No fear of this. I made this fellow so big that there is plenty of room to have everything strong and give it a chance to work.”
“Wal, you’re the smartest feller I ever seen, big or little. Whoever heard of a man going by steam?”
“I have, often; but I never saw it. I expect when I go back to make steam horses.”
“And birds, I s’pose?”
“Perhaps so; it will take some time to get such things in shape, but I hope to do it after awhile.”
“Skulp me! but thar must be some things that you can’t
do, and I think you’ve mentioned ’em.”
“Perhaps so,” was the quiet reply. “When you git through with this Western trip, what are you goin’ to do with this old feller?”
“I don’t know. I may sell him, if anybody wants him.”
“No fear of that; I’ll take him off your hands, and give you a good price for him.”
“What good will’ he do you?”
“Why, you can make more money with him than Barnum ever did with his Woolly Home.”
“How so?” inquired the boy, with great simplicity.
“Take him through the country and show him to the people. I tell yer they’d run after such things. Get out yer pictures of him, and the folks would break thar necks to see him. I tell yer, thar’s a fortune thar!”
The trapper spoke emphatically like one who knows.
As it was growing dusk, they deemed it best to look for some camping-place. There was considerable danger in running at night, as there was no moon, and they might run into some gully or ravine and dislocate or wrench some portion of their machinery, which might result in an irreparable catastrophe.
Before it was fairly dark they headed toward a small clump of trees, where everything looked favorable.
“You see we must find a place where there is plenty water and fuel, for we need both,” remarked the boy.
“Thar’s plenty of wood, as yer see with yer eyes,” replied Baldy, “and when trees look as keen as that, thar’s purty sure sign thar’s water not fur off.”
“That’s all we want,” was the observation of the engineer as he headed toward the point indicated.
Things were growing quite indistinct, when the steam man gave its last puff, and came to rest in the margin of the grove. The fires were instantly drawn, and every-thing was put in as good shape as possible, by the boy, while the trapper made a tour of examination through the grove. He came back with the report that everything was as they wished.
“Thar’s a big stream of water runnin’ right through the middle, and yer can see the wood fur yourself.”
“Any signs of Indians?” asked the boy, in a low voice, as if fearful of being overheard.
The Edward S. Ellis Megapack Page 72