CHAPTER XI
RICH AT LAST!
Up, up, up, with Jenny digging in her toes, snorting and puffing andpicking her way over the roughness of the worn rocks. Occasionally therewas a brief level spot where one might stop and pant and rest. Indeed,this was a hard trail for anybody, man or beast, and Terry feltconsiderable sympathy for the laboring ox-teams and the straining horsesthat drew the jolting, groaning wagons.
The outfits descending seemed to have almost as difficult a time, forthe wagons, their heavy brake-shoes smoking and their boughs draggedbehind, enveloping them in dust, threatened to run over the teams.
But it was a stirring scene, although whether any of the people comingdown were bringing gold could not be learned amidst such racket andconfusion.
Part way up another friend was encountered. He was the wheel-barrow man,halted to breathe so as to be able to push his barrow to the nextresting place.
"Tough sledding," he wheezed, as he sat upon his barrow handles andwiped his brow with a bandanna handkerchief. "Wust yet, but I'm bound toget there."
They left the wheel-barrow man behind. At every turn they expected tosee the summit beyond, but the climb required over an hour and a half ofsteady work.
Here, on the top, they were high above Table Mountain.
"Whew!" gasped Harry. The top was flat, and they drew aside, while theyrested. Everybody halted here to rest. It was a fine view. Down below,whence they had come, was the trail, with other outfits zig-zagging up;and farther was the trail along Clear Creek, and farther, the PlatteRiver; and farther, the plains, and Cherry Creek, and Denver andAuraria, all wonderfully sharp in the perfectly transparent air. Thepeople at the foot of the trail and beyond looked like pigmies, and thewagons like toys.
Before, the trail stretched across the mountain top and appeared to aimstraight into a tremendous wild country of much higher mountains,timbered with evergreens and capped with snow.
The gold-seeker companies were again starting on.
"Do we reach Gregory gulch today?" inquired Harry, of a returning party.
"No, sir; not by a long shot. 'Tisn't any use, anyhow. Every foot ofground is taken up. There are two thousand people in that gulch already,and the same in the other gulches. The Gregory folks have the bestclaims. Nothing left for us later comers."
The trail continued to follow a high ridge, amidst pines and brightflowers and grass; crossed icy cold streams where the ridge dipped; andby night had arrived nowhere in particular. So camp was made, thepleasantest camp of the whole trip from the Big Blue valley, because theair was so fresh and pure, and the water and wood abundant, and thegrass so sweet for Jenny.
"I reckon we're getting into the Promised Land," hazarded one of theExtra Limited's neighbors.
The next noon the mountain divide seemed to have been crossed; for atone side, far down, was Clear Creek again, like a silver threadtraversing a dark seam that was a canyon. About two miles ahead itdivided, and over the north branch hung a thin bluish film of smoke. Thesounds of ax and hammer and ringing pick--yes, the faint sound ofvoices--drifted up.
Gregory Gulch? That must be it, under the smoke, for the procession washastening, and presently down, down, down they all plunged, for thebottom where the north branch of the creek glimmered. This trail was assteep as the zigzag trail on the east slope. The wagons used boughs asdrags; oxen and horses held back hard; and Jenny, bracing her forefeet,slid and pitched and grunted. Faster and faster they all moved--couldnot stop--until in twenty minutes they fairly tumbled, one afteranother, into the water and the mouth of Gregory Gulch!
"Well, I should say she was crowded!" exclaimed Harry.
He and Terry gazed, consternated. Gregory Gulch extended westward fromthe North Clear Creek; it was narrow and quite long, and all up and downthe creek and as far as eye could see up the gulch, people wereswarming like bees, while the newly arrived gold-seekers looked on,bewildered.
Tents had been erected, cabins were rising, bough lean-tos served asother shelters; men were feverishly delving with spades, washing out thedirt in their pans, or dumping dirt and water into wooden boxes thatrocked like cradles; and other men were searching the bottoms and slopesfor vacant spots and there hurriedly driving in stakes. A few women werein sight--one woman was helping her husband dig; several were sitting indoorways or trying to tidy their premises.
No wonder that the newly arrived people were bewildered. Some grewgloomy at once and discouraged, but some waxed the more excited.
"First thing is to find a camping spot," proposed Harry, briskly. "Andthen to find our mine."
"How'll we find it?" asked Terry. "Where is the gold? I don't see any."
"This is Gregory gulch, is it?" queried Harry, of the nearest miner--ared-headed, red-stubbled little man squatting in mud to his anklesbeside a trickling stream, and twirling a gold-pan. He was muddied allover his tattered trousers and red shirt, and also to his elbows.
"It is; at laste it's the Gregory diggin's." He spoke with a strongIrish brogue.
"Have you found lots of gold?" invited Terry.
"Oi? Not a cint, b'gorry--an' here's another empty pan." As if indisgust the little man straightened up and surveyed them. "But that'snot sayin' Oi won't. Oi've got a foine claim right under me feet. Didyez jist get in? Would yez like to buy a nice claim?" He eyed themshrewdly with his twinkling eyes set in his grimy, sweaty face.
"Not yet, thank you," responded Harry. "Where's the gold?"
"Gold? Faith, all yez got to do is foind it. Sure, ain't it here inGregory gulch, an' don't yez see all the people diggin'? Didn't Gregoryan' five men take out $972 in wan week from their vein, an' afterwardsell for $2,100 an' lend the men who bought it $200 so they could goahead?"
"Where are they? Where is that vein?"
"Up yonder on the side o' the gulch; but yez can't get annywhere nearit, for the people an' the stakes. They don't want visitors. Jist driveyour stakes where yez can, an' begin work. My name's Pat Casey. Whatmight yez be called?"
They told him.
"Well, Oi'll see yez ag'in, boys," promised Pat, grasping his spade torefill his pan. "Who knows but in a few days we'll all be richtogether?"
"All right, Pat," laughed Harry. So they left Pat engaged with hisspade, hoping to strike it with the next pan full.
They toiled along, eyes alert for a camping spot. A tent bore the sign:"Groceries for Sail." Another was announced as "Miners' Hotel"--althoughwhere it slept its guests was a problem. Another tent, through the flapsof which might be glimpsed a woman, stated: "Back East Biscuits."
Dinner of course was a hurried affair. Other gold-seekers were stilldescending the hill and spreading out wherever they could. So no timewas to be lost. They each slung on a gold-pan by means of a thong tiedthrough a hole in the rim; and with pick and spade (Shep staying tomount guard) they sallied forth.
"I reckon," mused Harry, "we'll have to do like the rest do: scout aboutand whenever we see a goldish-looking spot, try it out."
"Dad showed us how to work a gold pan. I don't suppose we've forgotten,"panted Terry, as they hustled.
"Yes, but he didn't show us how to find the gold," reminded Harry. "Weought to locate near water."
For an hour they trudged up and down, and never sunk a spade or tried apan. All the creek and all the side streams seemed occupied. Once theyhalted and were just about to dig, when a voice bawled: "Get off myground!"
"Excuse me," apologized Harry. The owner of the voice was some distanceaway. "Is this your claim?"
"You bet you! The best claim in the diggin's."
"How big is a claim?" demanded Harry.
"Well, a hundred feet by fifty and as much more as I can get. Nowvamoose."
They "vamoosed."
"Two thousand people, claiming a hundred feet and as much more as theycan get, doesn't leave much room for the rest of us," sighed Harry.
"Hello, there!" hailed another voice, more cheery. It was the "Root Hogor Die" professor. He also was equipped for mining, but he
appeared tobe a wanderer like themselves.
"Have you struck anything?" asked Terry, as soon as they had shakenhands.
"Not a sign. Have you?"
"No. Can't find a place to dig in, even."
"This prospecting is more of a science than I had thought," confessedthe professor. He looked tired out. "I've been at it since morning. Ihad an idea the gold would show on the surface."
"So did we," admitted Terry. "But the ground all looks alike--justcommon dirt!"
"Yes, even where they're actually washing gold out," said the professor."I've seen some gold, though. I saw one miner with a pan that gave abouta dollar and a half, and I saw a clean-up in a sluice that netted eightdollars."
"What's a sluice? One of those wooden troughs?"
"Yes; but lumber for them is hand-sawed and costs a dollar a yard, andpeople are asking as high as a thousand dollars for a claim. I believeit's cheapest to hire somebody to locate a good claim for a fellow. TheRussells and Gregory and some others who have had experience are hiringthemselves out at $100 a day, I understand. There goes Green Russellnow."
"A hundred dollars a day! Whew!" gasped Terry.
Captain Green Russell halted in passing.
"Got here, did you?" he greeted, in friendly fashion. "Made your fortuneyet?"
"We may be standing on it, for all we know," answered Harry.
"For all you know, you may," drawled Mr. Russell. "That's the trouble.The people come in here, like they do at Cherry Creek, and think thegold shows at grass-roots. But Gregory didn't find his lode by any pureluck, and the rest of us old-timers are here to teach the folks how, ifthey want to learn."
"Could you put me on a good claim?" inquired the professor, eagerly.
"Yes, sir; I'll prospect for you at $100 a day. You'd save time andprobably money."
"All right. I'll go with you and we'll talk it over." And on strode theprofessor and his instructor.
"Hum!" remarked Harry. "The secret of making money is to have somethingthe other fellow will pay for: sometimes that's goods, and again it'sknowledge."
The gulch really was a fascinating place. Such a hive of industry--sawand hammer at work, as well as pick and spade; but amidst it all thereseemed to be no place for the Extra Limited. A general disappointmentwas in the air, with so many persons working hard and as yet gettingnothing.
"We'll travel 'round to Pat," quoth Harry, after a time. "He may havestruck something by this."
As they approached Pat, he suddenly uttered a loud whoop, and danced ajig. His neighbors dropped their tools and rushed for him.
"Sure, Oi'm rich!" cheered Pat. "There's gold in my pan! Hooray! Rich Oiam. Half o' yez can look at a time till yez all are done, an' the otherhalves kape away so yez won't carry off me gold on yez feet."
Yes, in the bottom of Pat's pan was a trace of yellow, not to speak of apebble about the size of a pea which he proclaimed to be gold also.
Scarcely hearing the congratulations, Pat fell to work again.
"Jiminy!" protested Terry. "We've got to stake out a claim somewhere,and have a mine ready for dad and George. Let's go clear up the gulch."
Pat's success was encouraging, at least. But as up the gulch they went,the crowd was no thinner, and presently Harry stopped.
"This pick and shovel weigh a ton," he said. "And so do my feet. I votewe knock off work, quit locating gold and try to locate supper. Firstthing we know it'll be dark and we can't find even Jenny and Shep."
"W-well," agreed Terry. "And tomorrow we'll start out again early. WishI knew just what kind of dirt had the gold in it."
"That," quoth Harry, "evidently is the secret."
Scarcely had they turned to retrace their steps when another call hailedthem. Somebody was running for them, from the other side of the gulch.He was a slim, muddy figure, in boots and trousers much too large forhim, with long hair flapping on his bared head.
They paused and stared.
"Aren't you the Pike's Peak Limited fellows?" panted the boy.
"Why, Archie Smith! Hello, Archie!"
"I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure." Archie was completely out ofbreath, and very red in his thin cheeks. He panted and coughed. "Whatare you doing? Prospecting? Have you struck anything? Do you want aclaim?"
"We're looking 'round. No, we haven't struck anything yet," theyanswered. "Have you? How long have you been here?"
"Do you know of any good place to claim?" added Terry.
"Yes. And you won't have to drive a stake! When did you get in? Where'syour camp?"
"Down yonder somewhere. We got in this morning."
"Gee, but I'm glad to see you," panted Archie. "Hurrah! Let's go to yourcamp and move your stuff. What you got? The cart? Didn't buy a tent, didyou?"
"No. We came in with just the mule. Expect we'll fix up a bough hut tillwe strike it rich," explained Terry.
"No, you needn't. You're to stay on my place. I've got a cabin and astove and--and----" here Archie lowered his voice, "boys, I've struck itrich, myself! I've got the best claim in these diggin's!"
"You have! How long have you been here?"
"About two weeks. Come on and I'll tell you about it. Do you knowanything about mining?"
"No," they confessed, ruefully.
"I didn't, either," admitted Archie, as together they pressed on forJenny and Shep and the packs. "So I bought a claim. There was a man herewho couldn't stay--he had to go down to Denver; and I bought his claimfor only $500. First I'd prospected for myself, and didn't findanything, and then I came across him just in time. Gee, I was lucky. Hewouldn't have sold, only he was obliged to get out. Of course, I pannedsamples of it before I bought, and in the very first pan there was fourdollars' worth of gold! He sold me his cabin and stove and everything.Boys----" and Archie's voice sank again, "you may not believe it, butI've already taken out near $80, by myself, and I can't dig very long ata time, either."
"How'd you pay for it?" blurted Terry. "Did you have the money withyou?"
"Yes. Our outfit had put in $200 apiece, for the trip across the plains,and we'd spent only half, and I carried that because I was treasurer. Ipaid for the stage ride from the station, though; but in Denver I workedat the hotel--and--and I nursed a gambler who was sick, and when hefound out that I'd studied medicine he said I'd saved his life and hegave me $250 as a doctor's fee. But I'm not a regular doctor yet. Nowyou fellows are to come and work the mine. It's named the Golden Prize,and it's _yours_!"
Harry stopped short. Terry scarcely could believe his ears.
"What?" challenged Harry.
"Aw, get out!" scoffed Terry.
"But it is," insisted Archie. "I've been just praying that you'd comealong. I didn't really save that gambler's life, though he was rightsick. But you saved mine; and if he thought what I did was worth $250,I reckon what you did was worth three or four times that because yourisked your lives, too. And anyway, I can't stay. It's too high for meup here. I lose my breath. I feel a heap better down on the plains, andI guess I'll go back home for a spell. If I don't give the mine to yousomebody'll jump it. There isn't anybody up here I can trust."
"But, great Caesar!" expostulated Harry. "We'll work it, if you want usto, while you're gone. We won't accept it forever, though."
"I should say not!" affirmed Terry. "We can find our own claim."
"No, you can't. The trained miners are the ones who find the bestground, and you're not trained. All right: you can work it just as if itwere your own, and you can have all you find till I come back."
"Cracky, but that will make us rich, won't it?" cried Terry.
"Of course it will. I've taken $80 in four days and I tell you I've justdug a little bit. It tires me all out to dig; and the water's so far.But you fellows can put in a sluice--I'll lend you enough dust to buyboards with, if you haven't enough----"
"We've got a little, and if we haven't enough we'll dig out more,"declared Harry, quickly.
"And with a sluice running you can just _pile_ up the yellow!"
"Whoop-ee!" cheered Terry, wildly. "We're rich at last."
The Pike's Peak Rush; Or, Terry in the New Gold Fields Page 13