CHAPTER XXXVIII.--THE LAST, BUT NOT THE LEAST IMPORTANT.
Si Brill heard the shouting, and leaving his friends--the prisoners--tocare for themselves he fairly flew out of the ravine.
He saw his "pard" holding the paper aloft and he understood all. Theglow of a well-earned victory came to his bronzed face, and he sent up acheer that started all the echoes in the gulch into life.
"All is lovely, Si!" shouted Collins. "We got the receipt, and the boy'ssafe. Don't wait a second but take him to his father at once. His heartis jist a hungerin' to hold young Sam next to it."
"You're right every time, old pard!" shouted Si Brill.
Sam ran to him and he was on the point of asking where his father was,when Si caught him in his arms and gave him such a hug as would havecrushed one of weaker frame.
He would have carried Sam in triumph on his broad shoulders, had thatyoung gentleman consented. As it was he took his hand, and raising hishat in the other, he ran down the gulch, cheering all the while as ifthe sound were essential to his progress.
Mr. Willett stood in the door of the dugout. He saw Si accompanied by atall, slender youth. No need to tell him who it was.
With the cry, "My boy! Oh, thank Heaven for my boy," Mr. Willett ran outand father and son were clasped in each other's arms, and their kissesand their tears mingled.
"See h'ar, Mr. Willett," called out Hank Tims, who had followed up hisfriend, "when you've got through a huggin' young Sam, jist turn him overto me and let me have a chance to express my sentiments on thisoccasion."
At sound of the dear old hunter's voice, Sam turned to him with extendedhands and cried out:
"Hank, old friend, I've been through the great canyon."
"Well!" laughed Hank, as he shook Sam's hands, and patted his back byturns, "you look as if you'd been dragged through a narrer knot hole,but yer eyes are as bright as ever and you'll soon git flesh on yerbones, but through the Gerrait Canyon! oh, come, Sam, don't try to foolme so soon after we've been parted for so long----"
"But didn't Ulna tell you?"
"So he did, Sam, but I thought mebbe his mind was affected. But nevermind, we'll have lots of time to talk over our adventures when we gitback to Gold Cave Camp. Well, well, I never did think, leastwise notlately, that I'd ever live to see so happy a day as this," and Hankturned his attention to Ike and Wah Shin, who had come upon the scene,nor was the dog forgotten in the warm welcome given to all.
"I tell you, Mistah Willett," said Ike, as he held his old employer'shand, "I'ze got enough to talk about till the day I die, even if I wasto live for a thousand years."
"Which I hope you may, Ike. But what is that noise up the hill?" askedMr. Willett, his attention attracted by the prolonged cheering in thatdirection.
They had not long to wonder, for soon Collins came dashing down thehill, his eyes glowing and a flush of triumph on his manly face.
"What's up, pard?" asked Si Brill.
"They've got at the truth!" shouted Collins.
"What truth?"
"The truth about the murder."
"Then you showed them the receipt?" said Mr. Willett, again taking Sam'shand.
"Yes; I did all that, and even then some of 'em wanted to doubt; butsomething has happened to settle 'em."
"What's that?" asked Hank.
"The landlord has lit out----"
"Oh!"
"But that's not all," continued Collins. "Badger is dead----"
"Dead!" echoed all.
"Yes, dead; but just before he pegged out he confessed that it was himkilled Tom Edwards----"
"I was right in my belief," said Mr. Willett solemnly.
"Yes," continued Collins, "and now every man in the camp, even thosethat was the bitterest, are jest achin' to see you, and to congratulateyou, and to ax yer parding; so let's go up. Thar's no danger to you noryour's in Hurley's Gulch now," and there was a ring of pride in thebrave fellow's voice.
The Gold Cave campers, happier than we can describe over their reunion,followed Collins from the dugout to the canvas settlement on the bluff.
As soon as the assembled miners caught sight of them they sent up such aglad shout as was never heard before nor since on the banks of thatparticular gulch.
At heart the great mass of men are right, and they mean to do right.Among these miners there seemed to be a general disposition to makeamends as speedily as possible for their past errors.
Not satisfied with cheering and shouting their congratulations, theyrushed in by twos and fours, and beginning with Mr. Willett, they liftedall the Gold Cave campers--not neglecting Ike and Wah Shin--to theirshoulders, and then marched in triumphal procession to the scene of thetrial at the hotel.
The flight of the proprietor did not seem to make any difference, forthere was plenty of food and cooks to prepare the banquet.
Ike went at once to the place where Wah Shin was helping to get dinner.
"I'll kind o' fill up a little, Wah," said Ike, as he laid siege to abig loaf of bread and a correspondingly large piece of cold meat, "forit'll take me jist 'bout a year's steady feedin' to catch up. You canbet that I'll never be sorry again that I didn't eat moah w'en I had agood chance."
Maj seemed to be of the same opinion, for he did not leave Ike's sidefor hours, and when he was next seen in public, he was truly aldermanicin his girth and evidently on good terms with himself and the world.
After a hearty dinner, which no one enjoyed more than Sam, speeches inpraise of "the young canyoneers" as they were called, were made, andresolutions expressing unbounded confidence in Mr. Willett and Hank Timswere passed.
And so ended the happiest day Hurley's Gulch had ever seen, or ever sawagain.
The next day our friends returned to Gold Cave Camp, but before startingoff, Mr. Willett purchased the articles Sam had promised to send to theIndians, and Si Brill and Collins pledged themselves to deliver them.
Here our story ends, yet it may not be amiss to add a few wordsexplanatory of the future of the characters in whom we have been so muchinterested.
Mr. Willett made a good deal of money out of the Gold Cave Campproperty, but the danger from floods led him after a time to sell it ata sacrifice.
Years have passed since these adventures came to a close. To-day"Willett & Son" are among the richest and most honored miners andbankers in the Far West.
Their porter in the bank is our old friend, Ike; indeed so great is hisinterest in the establishment and so highly does he think of hisposition that he is very positive it could not go on for a day withouthim.
He always speaks of the firm as "we."
"We's doin' fine," is a frequent expression of his, though nothingdelights him so much as to tell of his adventures in the Great Canyon. Hesneers at all other human exploits as things of no account compared withthe events in which he played so prominent a part.
Mr. Willett's cook is the faithful Wah Shin. "Wah really runs thehouse," Sam says, but he always adds, "and it could not be run better.Wah is a standing proof that the Mongolian has a bright mind and agenerous heart--that is if you get one of the right kind and treat himright."
Strange though it may seem, Ulna, as Mr. Willett's protege, came eastand studied medicine, and his skill and judgment are making him famousin the West. We need not add that there is one house in Denver where"Doctor Ulna" is always a welcome and an honored guest.
"Collins, Brill & Tims" is the firm name of one of the most prosperous"concerns" in Colorado.
It is not necessary for us to speak separately of the members in orderto have them recognized, though it may not be amiss to say that they areall married men, and are among the largest depositors in the bank ofWillett & Son.
They make the banker's house their home when in Denver, and althoughHurley's Gulch has been long since abandoned, and the wolf unfrightenedhowls over its site, they love to talk over the stirring days when ason's devotion proved itself more powerful than Lynch law and vigilancecommittees.
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