The Pike's Peak Rush; Or, Terry in the New Gold Fields

by Edwin L. Sabin

  CHAPTER XX

  MILLIONS IN SIGHT

  George dropped his jaw and almost dropped the pan. He and Terry stoppedshort in their dance, Shep growled, they all stared; stared into themuzzles of a double-barrel shot-gun projecting over the top of a bigboulder not fifteen steps at one side, and also into the eyes of a mansquatting concealed and squinting over the sight. He was bare-headed andtow-headed.

  He slowly arose, with shot-gun leveled, and proved to be a pudgy fat manin dirty checkered shirt and faded blue overalls with bib and straps;regular barnyard overalls.

  "Gee, the crazy Dutchman!" gasped George.

  "Dot is one lie," corrected the man, steadily. "Joost like Americanboys, who haf no respect. You come into my gulch to steal mein gold undyou call me 'crazy' und a 'Dootchmann,' und for dot I haf a mind to blowoff your heads off. Ja!" In his anger he spoke with a stronger Germanaccent than ever. "Vat you want, anyhow? Where you from?"

  "Oh--I know you!" exclaimed Terry, gladly. "Sure I do. And you know me.You're the Lightning Express. Remember, you sold us your sacks. Ithought you'd gone home. What are _you_ doing in here?"

  Now the German gaped and stared. He slowly lowered his gun, and grinnedwidely.

  "Ja, ja. Sure! You are one of dose Pike's Peak Limited boys. Ja, ja! Youwass driving a mule an' a boof'lo. Ja, ja! Well, well! An' where is dotpartner--dot nice young man? And who is dis odder boy? An' what youdoing in my gulch--say!"

  "We didn't know it was your gulch. This boy is George Stanton. He's mypartner, too. My other partner's down at Denver. We've been over in theGregory diggin's."

  "An' are you prospecting alone? Dere is more of you?" demanded theGerman, suspiciously.

  "No, we're alone," assured Terry.

  "Well, well. Is dot so? Den you needn't be afraid. I would not harm gootboys. Nein, nein." Now apparently in fine humor, he waddled forward toshake hands.

  "We're not afraid," replied Terry.

  "I should say not," alleged George. "Your gun wasn't cocked, and wecould have ducked. You'd have had to fight the two of us at once,besides the dog. That's a powerful dog. He's licked an Injun."

  "Is dot so?" repeated the German, eying Shep. "I stick my one foot inhis mouth an' kick him mit de odder. But no, no. Fighting is not goot. Ionly fight to protect my gulch. Come on down; come on down to where Ilif, an' we haf supper."

  "This is your dust, isn't it?" queried George, proffering the pan."It's out of that dirt. Do you own all the gulch?"

  "Ja; my gulch. But nefer mind. You keep what you find. I haf plenty,plenty. Come on down now an' I show you somet'ings. You odder boy washyour pan. Den we all go."

  Terry delayed not in washing his panful while he had the permission. Ityielded fully as much yellow as had George's! Whew! They had struck richpay-dirt, at last, and--shucks! It belonged to somebody else.However----

  "Keep it, keep it," bade the German, with grand gesture. "It is notworth my bodder. I haf plenty. I gif you so much, but I do not want youto steal it."

  So they carefully scraped the treasure into George's new buckskin sackalready open. "We'll divvy," proposed George, "but let me carry it, willyou?"--and accompanied the German down the main gulch.

  "Ja," he explained, to Terry, "I did start myself back an' I sell youan' dot odder partner my sacks an' my tools an' my sauerkraut. An' den,when dose stages begin to pass me, an' peoples begin to come, I t'inkmaybe I was one fool again, so I turn 'round."

  "How did you get in here, though?" asked Terry. "Are you the first? Didanybody else come with you?"

  "Ja, I am the first. No, nobody else come--joost me an' my family an' mywagon an' my oxen. People said 'the mountains, the mountains, the goldis not at Cherry Creek, it is in the mountains'; so we go into demountains, an' we climb up an' we climb down, an' when we get to wheredere is plenty gold, we stop. Dose fellers in dot odder gulch dey comelater, but I pay no attention to dem, except when one is in my gulch an'den I drive him out."

  How the Lightning Express ever had managed to achieve all that "climbingup" and "climbing down" until it finally arrived here in this remotespot, Terry could not figure out--and the German seemed not to know,himself. He certainly had earned his luck. He had spoken truly, too, fornow the gulch widened, and there, before, was his headquarters--ahomelike camp, with the two oxen grazing, and the wagon whose torn topstill displayed the legend "Litening Express," and a bough-roofeddug-out, and a clothes-line with washing waving from it, and his familyhovering around the cook stove set under a tree.

  "I find my cook stove an' pick him up," he announced. "Ja, we haf lotsto eat, but no sauerkraut. Only deers an' boof'lo an' chickens an'fishes."

  The menu sounded very alluring, the Mrs. German and all the six girls,even the youngest, smiled welcome, and the two guests were disposed tostay for the promised supper. But first their host, who seemedextraordinarily good-natured and hospitable, mysteriously beckoned themaside; led them to the wagon.

  "Now I show you somet'ings," he said. "Let's get in mit us." Helaboriously clambered in under the hood. They followed.

  Evidently the wagon was being used as a sleeping place, for the feathertick and blankets were spread, and two red-flannel night-caps hungagainst the frame-work. The German turned back the blankets and tickpart way and exposed several fat gunny sacks wedged in amidst otherstuff, all of which formed a floor.

  "Dere!" he grunted. "Isn't it? Ja! I told you once I fill my sacks. NowI do so."

  "What's in 'em?" blurted George.

  "Gold. My gold."

  George's eyes bulged; Terry heard him pant, and he caught his breathhimself.

  "In every sack?"

  "Ja." One of the sacks had a rent in the upper side. The German insertedhis fingers and thumb and extracting some of the contents, displayed thesample in his pudgy, calloused palm. The sample was black sand, allyellowed and asparkle with glittering grains.

  "I wash him cleaner when I get time," announced the German. "First Ifill all my sacks up tight. Den maybe it winter an' I must go away. Mywife an' I an' two leetle girls sleep in here on top; dose odder girlssleep under; nobody get my gold. I fill my sacks in my wagon, an' someday I hitch up my oxen an' drive off alretty." He smoothed down the bedagain, over the treasure. "I am a smart man. I save some sacks, dot timewhen I sell."

  "But you've got millions!" exclaimed Terry. "I should think you'd go outinstead of staying. You can't use that gold here."

  "It is notting," asserted the German. "My gulch is so much gold I cannotdig him fast enough. If I go away somebody come in an' steal." Heblinked at Terry with his fat eyes. "Maybe I sell, to goot boys whowould stay an' watch while I go an' come back. Den we could all worktogedder."

  "Sell all the gulch?"

  "No, no. Maybe I sell one piece. I sell dot piece where you wash outdose pans. I haf plenty more an' I do not like to walk so far. I sellhim cheap--it is notting to me, but I will not be stolen from. I sellhim to goot boys for $100."

  "One hundred dollars!" gasped Terry and George. They could scarcelybelieve their ears.

  "Ja. So cheap. I will not gif him away. It is better for boys to pay aleetle somet'ings, an' when dey haf bought, den dey haf rights. Onehoondred dollar--you bring in dot odder partner an' dig all you want toan' you watch my gulch, an' when I come back we all dig togedder an' getrich."

  "But how much land will be ours to dig in?"

  "I do not care," and the German airily waved his hand. "Dere will bet'ree of you? I sell you the right to six hoondred feet. Dot is twohoondred feet apiece. Ja. An' you watch an' don't you let anybodysteal."

  Terry looked at George. George was fairly purple with excitement.

  "Guess we'd better take it."

  "Guess we had," agreed George, gruffly.

  "That's a bargain, then."

  "We haven't got a hundred dollars here, though," stammered Terry, to theGerman. "We'll go back to Gregory Gulch right away and get it, and getour partner, and we'll hustle in here."

  "Dot's all right," agreed the German.
"Dot's all right. You are gootboys. I wait. I haf one sack not yet full alretty."

  "We won't stay for supper," proclaimed Terry. "We'll hustle. It's nearlydark, anyway. Come on, George!"

  He piled out. George piled out. The German rather tumbled out. Theygrabbed their tools. "Goot-bye, goot-bye," answered the German, and in amoment they were hurrying down the gulch.

  "We'll sell the Gregory claims," panted Terry. "Sell to Ike. That'swhere we'll get the hundred dollars."

  "Sure," panted George. "Talk about your pound a day! We'll make morethan that in here."

  "I should say! Reckon we washed out ten dollars in just those two pans."

  "And there'll be millions!"

  "That German has a million now!"

  "Wait till we tell Harry about the sacks."

  "Not a word of this to those Tarryall and Grab-all folks. Keep mum!"

  "You bet. Don't want any stampede. We'll pretend we're going outdisgusted."

  "Wonder if the German expects us to stay in all winter?"

  "We don't care. We can build a cabin and kill buffalo and deer."

  "And pile up the sand and wash cleaner after the snow comes."

  "Shall we start tonight? Ought to be making tracks."

  "N-no," said Terry. "It'll be dark before we can pack up. Shucks!"

  For the sun had set early behind the high peaks and already the dusk wascreeping into the hollows.

  "We'll start first thing in the morning, then," declared George."Hurrah! We've struck it, haven't we?"

  "That's so." The fact was so stupendous that Terry felt almostfrightened over the great good fortune.

  "Two days there and two days back again."

  "He said he'd wait. He's got a sack to fill."

  "Hope we don't talk in our sleep," babbled George.

  "If we don't, nobody'll guess we're rich. We mustn't go grinning 'round,just the same," babbled Terry.

  "No. We'll act mad, like the rest."

  And so, this evening, they were careful to appear very solemn. But ofcourse the night was a difficult one for sleep, when a fellow's brainthronged with golden secrets.

  And as early as they two were in their morning start for Gregory Gulch,others were as early. This camp of Grab-all was largely a disgruntledcamp. There was no lumber on hand for sluices, the conveniently workedground had already been taken up by the Tarryall men, most of thenewcomers were short on provisions, nobody knew but that winter wouldset in before many weeks; and so everybody from Gregory was planning toleave as soon as he had located a claim.

  In fact, when Jenny finally was packed, and in the pink dawn unwillinglystepped forth at the bidding of "Gwan! Hep, now!" from Terry and a slapon the flank from George, half a dozen outfits were heading up thetrail.

  Urged to make the most of her long legs, Jenny pressed after.

  "You boys are in more of a hurry to get out than you were to get in,seems to me," challenged one party whom they passed. "Must have heard ofa new strike, eh?"

  "Yes, sir-ee!" affirmed Terry, daringly. He had to say that much, orhe'd burst, but of course the man did not believe him.

  They made the trip in best time, and arrived at Gregory Gulch soon aftersun-up of the third morning.