The White Crystals: Being an Account of the Adventures of Two Boys

by Howard Roger Garis

  CHAPTER XVII

  ROGER SUSPECTS

  So quickly had it all happened that Roger and Adrian hardly realizedthey had just received what was, to them, quite a sum of money. Theyentered the house all excitement, after a brisk walk, and Adrian toldhis father how he and his cousin had been engaged as guides.

  "Wa'al, I must say ye airned th' money easy," said Mr. Kimball.

  "Yes, and we can get more," Adrian exclaimed. "We're to go with the menday after to-morrow, to show them the way. Say, dad, what do you s'posethey want of a railroad out here?"

  "It's hard t' say what them railroad fellers is up t'," answered Mr.Kimball. "Ye can't even tell whether they're goin' t' put a railroadthrough er not."

  "But they said they were," asserted Adrian.

  "Humph!" was all his father answered, with a little snort. He was tooconcerned with his own matters to think about the possibility of arailroad, especially at this time.

  But the news soon spread around Cardiff, in spite of the fact that theboys maintained a strict silence, that a railroad or a trolley line wasto go through the valley, and the residents were all talking about thepossibility of it the next day after Roger and Adrian had met the twoengineers. For the secret of the cousins having been hired as guides gotout somehow, though the boys did not tell, and they were the envy oftheir companions. The less fortunate lads of Cardiff determined to takethe first opportunities of offering their services to Mr. Dudley and Mr.Ranquist.

  The day after the boys' engagement Mr. Kimball announced that a lot ofbrush in the vineyard needed burning, so that the ground might becultivated. Adrian and Roger thought the task so much like play theyasked to be allowed to build the fires.

  Mr. Kimball was glad enough to have them undertake the task. Armed withlong rakes the boys started up the hill and soon had heaped up severalbig piles of brush, dry leaves and twigs, which Adrian set fire to,taking care that none of the vines were scorched. A little wearied byhis labors, Roger laid aside his rake, and while the flames were eatingtheir way well into the debris, he strolled farther up the hill. It wasrather a warm, pleasant day, and the woods, which stretched out beforehim, seemed to invite him to come in and see how the trees were puttingon their full summer outfits of green leaves.

  Before he realized it Roger had gone some distance from the vineyard,and only occasionally could he catch a glimpse of the smoke from thebrush-wood fires. There was scarcely a sound to break the silence, savethe piping of some early birds, and the boy sat down on a rock under abig chestnut tree to rest. On a fallen log near him a bright greenlizard crawled out to bask in the sunshine. Then a rustling in the driedleaves on the ground caught his ear. He looked in that direction to seea snake wriggle into view. He tossed a bit of bark toward the reptileand in an instant it had disappeared in alarm. The lad drew a long, deepbreath, filling his lungs with the sweet, balmy spring odor of thewoods,--a smell that seemed laden with health.

  "My! But that's fine!" he exclaimed.

  The next minute he was startled by a sound, as if some one had steppedon and broken a tree branch. Glancing up the hill he saw, ratherindistinctly, some moving body.

  "I guess it's a cow," he remarked.

  Then he looked more closely.

  "Two cows," he added, as he noted a second form. "No, it isn't either,"he corrected himself a moment later, "it's two men," and he rose to geta better view. "It's Mr. Dudley and Mr. Ranquist. I guess they didn'twant to wait until to-morrow to go prospecting. I wonder what they'redoing on Uncle Bert's hill. I guess it won't do any harm to watch andfind out. If they strike gold, or decide to run a railroad here, I mightas well know it. I suspect those men are after something, and they'renot telling what it is either," he concluded, rather wisely. "Well, heregoes for a little detective work."

  Using as much caution as if he was trailing some wild and timid animal,Roger slowly made his way up the hill and through the woods in thedirection the two men had taken. He trod lightly, being careful not tostep on any twigs or branches, which might snap and betray his presence.For he did not want the men to discover him. Not that he was doinganything wrong, or anything he had not a right to do, for the men wereon his uncle's land, and Roger felt he should be interested in whateverthey did. For a quarter of a mile he trailed after Mr. Dudley and Mr.Ranquist, easily keeping them in sight, yet remaining hidden himself,since they seemed to have no suspicion they were being followed.

  In a little hollow, about three hundred feet away from the spring whichburst out of the side hill, and which served to furnish drinking waterfor Mr. Kimball's house, the two men came to a halt. Roger hid himselfbehind a big stone, somewhat above them, to watch. Mr. Ranquist drewfrom his valise a number of pieces of metal, which he screwed togetheruntil he had a rod about a yard long. Then, with a hammer, he proceededto drive this downward into the earth. When it had been forced almostout of sight he screwed another section on from above and drove thisdown, and so on, until he had sent the slender steel rod to a depth oftwenty feet into the earth. Roger noticed that the blows of the hammer,as they struck, produced no sound beyond a dull thud, which, close as hewas, he could scarcely hear.

  "He must have rubber on the hammer," said the boy, "or something todeaden the blows. He's afraid some one will hear him. I wonder what inthe world they can be up to? I must get a little nearer, so I canlisten to what they are saying."

  He was a little fearful about advancing any farther as he could not tellbut that the sound of his movements might come to the ears of the men,now they had stopped walking and could hear better. He looked to see ifhe could approach under cover, and then he spied a fallen log, extendingdown hill, toward the centre of the little glade, in which the men wereat work on their mysterious errand.

  The farther end of the tree trunk was up against a large bowlder, behindwhich Roger might lie hidden, as secure as he was in the position he hadfirst selected, if he could but reach it unobserved, and he thought hemight by crawling along under the protecting shadow of the log. So withthis end in view, he proceeded to act. He stretched out on his stomach,regardless of his clothes, like a big snake, and then he began to slowlywriggle toward the men.

  It was not easy work, as he dared not raise himself more than a fewinches from the ground without the danger of being seen above the log.Along the dried leaves and grass he went, pausing every few minutes topeep cautiously over his screen to see if the men were aware of hispresence. They seemed all unsuspicious that they were being watched by asharp-eyed lad, and continued to drive the rod deeper into the earth. Atlength, after about five minutes of cautious crawling, Roger reached therock, and he curled himself up behind it with a sigh of satisfaction.

  He was now within sixty feet of the men and could easily hear all theysaid, unless they spoke in whispers, which they were not likely to do.But the boy seemed to have had his trouble for his pains, for Mr. Dudleyand Mr. Ranquist were not saying a word to each other. They were intenton the work, and Roger was keenly disappointed as, just before hestarted to crawl nearer, he had heard the murmur of their voices inearnest conversation.

  But now Mr. Ranquist appeared to have used up all the sections of thesteel rod. However, his valise had more tools in it, for he drew out ashort iron handle, from which dangled a length of stout chain links.This chain he wound about the top part of the rod, which projected abouta foot from the ground. The loose end of the links he fastened to thehandle again. Then he and Mr. Dudley, taking a firm hold of the shortbar, proceeded to twist the rod around in the earth. Roger watched themwonderingly. They spent five minutes in this operation, and then ceased,to sit down on the grass and rest.

  "Do you think we'll strike it?" Roger heard Mr. Dudley ask hiscompanion.

  "Can't say for sure, but it looks very promising," was the reply.

  "Is it gold, or is it oil?" Roger asked himself, softly.

  Next, as he watched, he saw Mr. Ranquist take another tool from hisvalise, which seemed to contain the outfit of a small machine shop. Thislast instrument was like
a lifting jack, very small and light, butexceedingly powerful. With it the two men easily pulled the rod up fromwhere they had driven it in the ground, lifting it section by sectionand unscrewing each one. They seemed to be eager and anxious as theycame toward the end, and as the last piece of steel emerged from thesmall hole, they both bent forward and looked at it closely. Theyappeared much excited at what they saw, and Mr. Ranquist threw his hatin the air and capered about like a boy.

  "Hurrah!" Roger heard him shout, softly, to be sure, for even in hisexcitement the engineer did not forget his caution. "Hurrah! We'vestruck it all right. Now to get hold of the land before any of thepeople about here suspect. I'll tell you, Dudley, our fortunes aremade."

  The older man seemed scarcely less excited than Mr. Ranquist. He wet hisforefinger, touched the end of the rod with it, and then brought hisfinger to his tongue. He appeared to be tasting some substance. In amoment Mr. Ranquist followed his example, and then the look of triumphcame on Mr. Dudley's face, as it had on the countenance of the youngerengineer. Roger, forgetting his role of detective, raised himself up,trying to get a sight of the mysterious substance. In the gleam of thesun, on the point of the rod which Mr. Ranquist held, the boy beheld,rather faintly, however, the glitter of something white and sparkling,something that looked like the white crystals of snow.

  Mr. Ranquist quickly whittled out a little stake from a tree branch anddrove it into the small hole in the earth, whence he had drawn the rod.This done the men carefully packed their tools in the valise and startedaway. Roger watched them until they were out of sight. Then he hurriedto the spot. He pulled up the stake, expecting to see something todisclose the mystery and reward him for his investigation. But there wasnothing to indicate what the men had found that pleased them so.

  Roger was greatly disappointed. But he comforted himself with thereflection that, at least, he was on the track of the mystery. Hethought quickly and realized that some older head than his must take upthe problem now. Yet whom could he tell? Mr. Kimball, he reasoned, wouldhardly be in a position to give an expert opinion as to what was underthe earth. Then, too, he did not want to raise false hopes for his unclethat might be shattered after investigation. He could not imagine whatit was the men had found, that they regarded as of such value. Theyevidently expected to find it, which added to the complications. How didthey know at about that spot something was hidden under the surface?Clearly it must be some mineral substance Roger thought, but what? Itdidn't seem to be gold, unless it was in some peculiar form. Whatever itwas, would it be worth the trouble that might be necessary before itcould be come upon and dug out, unless some one, who knew just what theywere searching after, did the work? And it was evident that the two mendid possess this knowledge, which was so needful.

  Roger was in a dilemma, but he resolved to discover a way out, ifpossible. Carefully marking the location of the stake, that he mightfind it again, he started home. He came into the vineyard just as hiscousin was clearing up the last of the brush.

  "Well," said Adrian, "I thought maybe you had gone to the house."

  "No," answered Roger, "I was just walking in the woods for my health,"and he smiled a little.

  For certain reasons he did not want even Adrian to know what he hadseen.

  "We'll take a long walk to-morrow," said Adrian, breaking into a merrywhistle. "But something tells me it is nearly supper-time. I'm as hungryas a bear. Hi, Jack!" he called to the dog, and all three started forhome, Roger in a sort of day-dream over what he had discovered.