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diff --git a/30578.txt b/30578.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..380be89 --- /dev/null +++ b/30578.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7708 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wunpost, by Dane Coolidge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wunpost + +Author: Dane Coolidge + +Release Date: December 2, 2009 [EBook #30578] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WUNPOST *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +WUNPOST + + + + +WUNPOST + +BY + +DANE COOLIDGE + +AUTHOR OF + +LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT, THE DESERT TRAIL, RIMROCK JONES, ETC. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +Published by Arrangement with E. P. Dutton & Company + + + + +Copyright, 1920, + +By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY + +All Rights Reserved + +First printing ... April, 1920 + +Second printing ... May, 1920 + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +CONTENTS + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Death Valley Trail 1 + II. The Gateway of Dreams 9 + III. Dusty Rhodes Eats Dirt 20 + IV. The Tree of Life 30 + V. The Willie Meena 42 + VI. Cinched 51 + VII. More Dreams 63 + VIII. The Babes in the Woods 73 + IX. A New Deal 85 + X. Short Sports 91 + XI. The Stinging Lizard 102 + XII. Back Home 114 + XIII. With Hay-hooks 128 + XIV. Poisoned Bait 135 + XV. Wunpost Takes Them All On 144 + XVI. Divine Providence 156 + XVII. The Answer 168 + XVIII. A Lesson 175 + XIX. Tainted Money 183 + XX. The War Eagle 190 + XXI. A Lock of Hair 200 + XXII. The Fear of the Hills 209 + XXIII. The Return of the Blow-hard 217 + XXIV. Something New 226 + XXV. The Challenge 233 + XXVI. The Fine Print 242 + XXVII. A Come-Back 251 + XXVIII. Wunpost Has a Bad Dream 259 + XXIX. In Trust 268 + + + + +WUNPOST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE DEATH VALLEY TRAIL + + +The heat hung like smoke above Panamint Sink, it surged up against the +hills like the waves of a great sea that boiled and seethed in the sun; +and the mountains that walled it in gleamed and glistened like polished +jet where the light was struck back from their sides. They rose up in +solid ramparts, unbelievably steep and combed clean by the sluicings of +cloudbursts; and where the black canyons had belched forth their floods +a broad wash spread out, writhing and twisting like a snake-track, until +at last it was lost in the Sink. For the Sink was the swallower-up of +all that came from the hills and whatever it sucked in it buried beneath +its sands or poisoned on its alkali flats. Yet the Death Valley trail +led across its level floor--thirty miles from Wild Rose Springs to +Blackwater and its saloons--and while the heat danced and quivered there +was a dust in the north pass and a pack-train swung round the point. + +It came on furiously, four burros with flat packs and an old man who ran +cursing behind; and as he passed down into the Sink there was another +dust in the north and a lone man followed as furiously after him. He was +young and tall, a mountain of rude strength, and as he strode off down +the trail he brandished a piece of quartz and swung his hat in the air. +But the pack-train kept on, a column of swirling dust, a blotch of +burro-gray in the heat; and as he emptied his canteen he hurled it to +the ground and took after his partner on the run. He could see the +twinkling feet, the heave of the white packs, the vindictive form +dodging behind; and then his knees weakened, his throbbing brain seemed +to burst and he fell down cursing in the trail. But the pack-train went +on like a tireless automaton that no human power could stay and when he +raised his head it was a streamer of dust, a speck on the far horizon. + +He rose up slowly and looked around--at the empty trail, the waterless +flats, the barren hills all about--and then he raised his fist, which +still clutched the chunk of quartz, and shook it at the pillar of dust. +His throat was dry and no words came, to carry the burden of his hate, +but as he stumbled along his eyes were on the dust-cloud and he choked +out gusty oaths. A demoniac strength took possession of his limbs and +once more he broke into a run, the muttered oaths grew louder and gave +way to savage shouts and then to delirious babblings; and when he awoke +he was groveling in a sand-wash and the sun had sunk in the west. + +Once more he rose up and looked down the empty trail and across the +waterless flats; and then he raised his eyes to the eastern hills, +burning red in the last rays of the sun. They were high, very high, with +pines on their summits, and from the wash of a near canyon there lapped +out a tongue of green, the promise of water beyond. But his strength had +left him now and given place to a feverish weakness--the hills were far +away, and he could only sit and wait, and if help did not come he would +perish. The solemn twilight turned to night, a star glowed in the east; +and then, on the high point above the mouth of the canyon, there leapt +up a brighter glow. It was a fire, and as he gazed he saw a form passing +before it and feeding the ruddy blaze. He rose up all a-tremble, crushed +down a brittle salt-bush and touched it off with a match; and as the +resinous wood flared up he snatched out a torch and carried the flame to +another bush. It was the signal of the lost, two fires side by side, and +he gave a hoarse cry when, from the point of the canyon, a second fire +promised help. Then he sank down in the sand, feebly feeding his signal +fire, until he was roused by galloping feet. + +A half moon was in the sky, lighting the desert with ghostly radiance, +and as he scrambled up to look he saw a boy on a white mule, riding in +with a canteen held out. Not a word was spoken but as he gurgled down +the water he rolled his eyes and gazed at his rescuer. The boy was slim +and vigorous, stripped down to sandals and bib overalls; and +conspicuously on his hip he carried a heavy pistol which he suddenly +hitched to the front. + +"That's enough, now," he said, "you give me back that canteen." And when +the man refused he snatched it from his lips and whipped out his ready +gun. "Don't you grab me," he warned, "or I'll fill you full of lead. +You've had enough, I tell you!" + +For a moment the man faced him as if crouching for a spring; and then +his legs failed him and he sank to the ground, at which the boy dropped +down and stooped over him. + +"Lie still," he said, "and I'll bathe your face--I was afraid you were +crazy with the heat." + +"That's all right, kid," muttered the man, "you're right on the job. +Say, gimme another drink." + +"In a minute--well, just a little one! Now, lie down here in the sand +and try to go to sleep." He moistened a big handkerchief and sopped +water on his head and over his heaving chest, and after a few drinks the +big frame relaxed and the man lay sleeping like a child. But in his +dreams he was still lost and running across the desert, he started and +twitched his arms; and then he began to mutter and fumble in the sand +until at last he sat up with a jerk. + +"Where's that rock?" he demanded, "by grab, she's half gold--I'm going +to take it and bash out his brains!" He rose to his knees and scrambled +about and the boy dropped his hand to his gun. "I'm going to _kill_ +him!" raved the man, "the danged old lizard-herder--he went off and left +me to die!" + +He felt about in the dirt and grabbed up the chunk of quartz, which he +had lost in his last delirium. + +"Look at _that_!" he exclaimed thrusting it out to the boy, "the +richest danged quartz in the world! I've got a ledge of it, kid, enough +to make us both rich--and John Calhoun never forgets a friend! No, and +he never forgets an enemy--the son of a goat don't live that can put one +over on _me_! You just wait, Mister Dusty Rhodes!" + +"Oh, was that Dusty Rhodes?" the boy piped up eagerly. "I was watching +from the point and I _thought_ it was his outfit--but I don't think +I've ever seen you. Were you glad when you saw my fire?" + +"You bet I was, kid," the man answered gravely, "I reckon you saved my +life. My name is John C. Calhoun." + +He held out his hand and after a moment's hesitation the boy reached out +and took it. + +"My name is Billy Campbell and we live in Jail Canyon. My mother will be +coming down soon--that is, if she can catch our other mule." + +"Glad to meet her," replied Calhoun still shaking his hand, "you're a +good kid, Billy; I like you. And when your mother comes, if it's +agreeable to her, I'd like to take you along for my pardner. How would +that suit you, now--I've just made a big strike and I'll put you right +next to the discovery." + +"I--I'd like it," stammered the boy hastily drawing his hand away, +"only--only I'm afraid my mother won't let me. You see the boys are all +gone, and there's lots of work to do, and--but I do get awful lonely." + +"I'll fix it!" announced Calhoun, pausing to take another drink, "and +anything I've got, it's yours. You've saved my life, Billy, and I never +forget a kindness--any more than I forget an injury. Do you see that +rock?" he demanded fiercely. "I'm going to follow Dusty Rhodes to the +end of the world and bash out his rabbit brains with it! I stopped up at +Black Point to look at that big dyke and what do you think he done? He +went off and _left_ me and never looked back until he struck them +Blackwater saloons! And the first chunk of rock that I knocked off of +that ledge would assay a thousand dollars--gold! I ran after that danged +fool until I fell down like I was dead, and then I ran after him again, +but he never so much as looked back--and all the time I was trying to +make him rich and put him next to my strike!" + +He stopped and mopped his brow, then took another drink and laughed, +deep down in his chest. + +"We were supposed to be prospecting," he said at last. "I threw in with +him over at Furnace Creek and we never stopped hiking until we struck +the upper water at Wild Rose. How's that for prospecting--never looked +at a rock, except them he threw at his burros--and this morning, when I +stopped, he got all bowed up and went off and left me flat. All I had +was one canteen and the makings for a smoke, everything else was on the +jacks, and the first rock I knocked off was rotten with gold--he'd been +going past it for years! Well, I _stopped_! Nothing to it, when you +find a ledge like that you want to put up a notice. All my blanks were +in the pack but I located it, all the same--with some rocks and a +cigarette paper. It'll hold, all right, according to law--it's got my +name, and the date, and the name of the claim and how far I claim, both +ways--but not a doggoned corner nor a pick-mark on it; and there it is, +right by the trail! The first jasper that comes by is going to jump it, +sure--don't you know, boy, I've got to get _back_. What's the +chances for borrowing your mule?" + +"What--Tellurium?" faltered the boy going over to the mule and rubbing +his nose regretfully, "he's--he's a pet; I'd rather not." + +"Aw come on now, I'll pay you well--I'll stake you the claim next to +mine. That ought to be worth lots of money." + +"Nope," returned Billy, "here's a lunch I brought along. I guess I'll be +going home." + +He untied a sack of food from the back of his saddle and mounted as if +to go, but the stranger took the mule by the bit. + +"Now listen, kid," he said. "Do you know who I am? Well, I'm John C. +Calhoun, the man that discovered the Wunpost Mine and put Southern +Nevada on the map. I'm no crazy man; I'm a prospector, as good as the +best, if I am playing to a little hard luck. Yes sir, I located the +Wunpost and started that first big rush--they came pouring into Keno by +the thousands; but when I show 'em this rock there won't be anybody +left--they'll come across Death Valley like a sandstorm. They'll come +pouring down that wash like a cloudburst in July and the whole doggoned +country will be located. Don't you want to be in on the strike? I'm +giving you a chance, and you'll never have another one like it. All I +ask is this mule, and your canteen and the grub, and I'll tell you what +I'll do--I'll give you half my claim, and I'll bet it's worth millions, +and I'll bring back your mule to boot!" + +"Oh, will you?" exclaimed the boy and was scrambling swiftly down when +he stopped with one hand on the horn. "Does--does it make any difference +if I'm a girl?" he asked with a break in his voice, and John C. Calhoun +started back. He looked again and in the desert moonlight the boyish +face seemed to soften and change. Tears sprang into the dark eyes and as +she hung her head a curl fell across her breast. + +"Hell--no!" he burst out hardly knowing what he said, "not as long as I +get the mule." + +"Then write out that notice for Wilhelmina Campbell--I guess that's my +legal name." + +"It's a right pretty name," conceded Calhoun as he mounted, "but somehow +I kinder liked Billy." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GATEWAY OF DREAMS + + +Standing alone in the desert, with her face bared to the moonlight and +her curls shaken free to the wind, Wilhelmina smiled softly as she gazed +after the stranger who already had won her heart. His language had been +crude when he thought she was a boy, but that only proved the perfection +of her disguise; and when she had asked if it made any difference, and +confessed that she was a girl, he had bridged over the gap like a flash. +"Hell--no!" he had said, as men oftentimes do to express the heartiest +accord; and then he had added, with the gallantry due a lady, that +Wilhelmina was a right pretty name. And tomorrow, as soon as he had +staked out his claim--their claim--he was coming back to the ranch! + +She started back up the long wash that led down from Jail Canyon, still +musing on his masterful ways, but as she rounded the lower point and saw +a light in the house a sudden doubt assailed her. Tellurium was her +mule, to give to whom she chose, but he was matched to pull with Bodie +when they needed a team and her father might not approve. And what would +she say when she met her mother's eye and she questioned her about this +strange man? Yet she knew as well as anything that he was going to make +her rich--and tomorrow he would bring back the mule. All she needed was +faith, and the patience to wait; and she took her scolding so meekly +that her mother repented it and allowed her to sleep in the tunnel. + +The Jail Canyon Ranch lay in a pocket among the hills, so shut in by +high ridges and overhanging rimrock that it seemed like the bottom of a +well; but where the point swung in that encircled the tiny farm a tunnel +bored its way through the hill. It was the extension of a mine which in +earlier days had gophered along the hillside after gold, but now that it +was closed down and abandoned to the rats Wilhelmina had taken the +tunnel for her own. It ran through the knife-blade ridge as straight as +a die, and a trail led up to its mouth; and from the other side, where +it broke out into the sun, there was a view of the outer world. Sitting +within its cool portal she could look off across the Sink, to Blackwater +and the Argus Range beyond; and by stepping outside she could see the +whole valley, from South Pass to the Death Valley Trail. + +It was from this tunnel that she had watched when Dusty Rhodes went +past, a moving fleck of color plumed with dust; and when the sun sank +low she had seen the form that followed, like a man yet not like a man. +She had seen it rise and fall, disappear and loom up again; until at +last in the twilight she had challenged it with a fire and the answer +had led her to--him. She had found him--lost on the desert and about to +die, big and strong yet dependent upon her aid--and when she had allowed +her long curls to escape he had stood silent in the presence of her +womanhood. She wanted to run back and sleep in her tunnel, where the air +was always moving and cool; and then in the morning, when she looked to +the north, she might see the first dust of his return. She might see his +tall form, and the white sides of Tellurium as he took the shortest way +home, and then she could run back and drag her mother to the portal and +prove that her knight had been misjudged. For her mother had predicted +that the prospector would not return, and that his mine was only a +blind; but she, who had seen him and felt the clasp of his hand, she +knew that he would never rob _her_. So she fled to her dream-house, +where there was nothing to check her fancies, and slept in the +tunnel-mouth till dawn. + +The day came first in the west, galloping along the Argus Range and +splashing its peaks with red; and then as the sun ascended it found gaps +in the eastern rim and laid long bands of light across the Sink. It rose +up higher and, as the desert stood forth bare, the dweller in the +dream-house stepped out through its portals and gazed long at the Death +Valley Trail. From the far north pass, where it came down from Wild +Rose, to where Blackwater sent up its thin smoke, the trail crept like a +serpent among the sandhills and washes, a long tenuous line through the +Sink. Where the ground was white the trail stood out darker, and where +it crossed the sun-burnt mesas it was white; but from one end to the +other it was vacant and nothing emerged from north pass. Billy sighed +and turned away, but when she came back there was a streak of dust to +the south. + +It came tearing along the trail from Blackwater, struck up by a +galloping horseman, and at the spot where she had found the lost man the +night before the flying rider stopped. He rode about in circles, started +north and came dashing back; and at last, still galloping, he turned up +the wash and headed for the mouth of Jail Canyon. He was some searcher +who had found her tracks in the sand, and the tracks of Tellurium going +on; and, rather than follow the long trail to Wild Rose Springs, he was +coming to interview her. Billy ran down to meet him with long, rangey +strides, and at the point of the hill she stood waiting expectantly, for +visitors were rare at the ranch. Three restless lonely weeks had dragged +away without bringing a single wanderer to their doors; and now here was +a second man, fully as exciting as the first, because he was coming up +there to see _her_. Billy tucked up her curls beneath the brim of +her man's hat as she watched the laboring horse, but when she made out +who it was that was coming she gave up all thought of disguise. + +"Hello, Dusty!" she called running gayly down to meet him, "are you +looking for Mr. Calhoun?" + +"Oh, it's Mister, is it?" he yelled. "Well, have you seen the danged +whelp? Whoo, boy--where is he, Billy?" + +"He went back!" she cried, "I lent him my mule. He told me he'd made a +rich strike!" + +"A rich _strike_!" repeated the man and then he laughed and spurred +his drooping mount. He was tall and bony with a thin, hawk nose and eyes +sunk deep into his head. "A rich strike, eh?" he mimicked, and then he +laughed again, until suddenly his face came straight. "What's that you +said?" he shouted, "you didn't lend him your _mule_! Well, I'm +afraid, my little girl, you've made a mistake--that feller is a regular +horse-thief. Is your mother up to the house? We'll go up and see +her--I'm afraid he's gone and stole your mule!" + +"Oh, no he hasn't," protested Billy confidently, running along the trail +beside him, "he went back to stake out his claim. He found some rich ore +right there at Black Point, and he's going to give me half of it." + +"At Black P'int!" whooped Dusty Rhodes doubling up in a knot to squeeze +out the last atom of his mirth, "w'y I've been past that p'int for +twenty years--it's nothing but porphyry and burnt lava! He's crazy with +the heat! Where's your father, my little girl? We'll have to go out and +ketch him if we ever expect to git back that mule!" + +"He's working up the canyon," answered Billy sulkily, "but never you +mind about my mule. He's mine, I guess, and I loaned him to that man in +exchange for a half interest in his mine!" + +"Oh, it's a _mine_ now, is it?" mocked Dusty Rhodes, "next thing +it'll be a mine and mill. And he borrowed your mule, eh, that your +father give ye, and sent ye back home on foot!" + +"I don't care!" pouted Billy, "I'll bet you change your tune when you +see him coming back with my mule. You went off and left him, and if I +hadn't gone down and helped him he would have died in the desert of +thirst." + +"Eh--eh! Went off and _left_ him!" bleated Dusty in a fury, "the +poor fool went off and left _me_! I picked him up at Furnace Crick, +over in the middle of Death Valley, and jest took him along out of pity; +and all the way over he was looking at every rock when a prospector +wouldn't spit on the place! He was eating my grub and packing his bed on +my jacks; and then, by the gods, he wants me to stop at Black P'int +while he looks at that hungry bull-quartz! I warned him distinctly that +I don't wait for no man--did he say I went off and left him?" + +"Yes, he did," answered Billy, "and he says he's going to kill you, +because you went off and took all his water!" + +"Hoo, hoo!" jeered Dusty Rhodes, "that big bag of wind?" But he ignored +what she said about the water. + +They spattered through the creek, where it flowed out to sink in the +sand, and passed around the point of the canyon; and then the green +valley spread out before them until it was cut off by the gorge above. +This was the treacherous Corkscrew Bend, where the fury of countless +cloudbursts had polished the granite walls like a tombstone; but Dusty +Rhodes recalled the time when a fine stage-road had threaded its curves +and led on up the canyon to old Panamint. But the flood which had +destroyed the road had left the town marooned and the inhabitants had +gone out over the rocks; until now only Cole Campbell, the owner of the +Homestake, stayed on to do the work on his claims. In this valley far +below he had made his home for years, diverting the creek to water his +scanty crops; while in season and out he labored on the road which was +to connect up his mine with the world. + +His house stood against the hill, around the point from Corkscrew Bend, +old and rambling and overgrown with vines; and along the road that led +up to it there were rows of peaches and figs, fenced off by stone walls +from the creek. Dusty rode past the trees slowly, feasting his eyes on +their lush greenness and the rank growth of alfalfa beyond; until from +the house ahead a screen door slammed and a woman gazed anxiously down. + +"Oh, is that you, Mr. Rhodes?" she called out at last, "I thought it was +the man who got lost! Come up to the house and tell me about him--do you +think he will bring back our mule?" + +He dismounted with a flourish and dropped his reins at the gate; then, +while Billy hung back and petted the lathered horse, he strode up the +flower-entangled walk. + +"Don't think nothing, Mrs. Campbell," he announced with decision, "that +boy has stole 'em before. He'll trade off that mule fer anything he can +git and pull his freight fer Nevada." + +He paced up to the porch and shook hands ceremoniously, after which he +accepted a drink and a basketful of figs and proceeded to retail the +news. + +"Do you know who that feller is?" he inquired mysteriously, as Billy +crept resentfully near, "he's the man that discovered the Wunpost mine +and tried to keep it dark. Yes, that big mine over in Keno that they +thought was worth millions, only it pinched right out at depth; but it +showed up the nicest specimens of jewelry gold that has ever been seen +in these parts. Well, this Wunpost, as they call him, was working on a +grubstake for a banker named Judson Eells. He'd been out for two years, +just sitting around the water-holes or playing coon-can with the Injuns, +when he comes across this mine, or was led to it by some Injun, and he +tries to cover it up. He puts up one post, to kinder hold it down in +case some prospector should happen along; and then he writes his notice, +_leaving out the date_--and everything else, you might say. + +"'Wunpost Mine,'" he writes, "'John C. Calhoun owner. I claim fifteen +hundred feet on this vein.' + +"And jest to show you, Mrs. Campbell, what an ignorant fool he is--he +spelled One Post, W-u-n! That's where he got his name!" + +"I think that's a _pretty_ name!" spoke up Billy loyally, as her +mother joined in on the laugh. "And anyhow, just because a man can't +spell, that's no reason for calling him a fool!" + +"Well, he _is_ a fool!" burst out Dusty Rhodes spitefully, "and +more than that, he's a crook! Now that is what he done--he covered up +that find and went back to the man that had grubstaked him. But this +banker was no sucker, if he did have the name of staking every bum in +Nevada. He was generous with his men and he give 'em all they asked for, +but before he planked down a dollar he made 'em sign a contract that a +corporation lawyer couldn't break. Well, when Wunpost said he'd quit, +Mr. Eells says all right--no hard feeling--better luck next time. But +when Wunpost went back and opened up this vein Mr. Eells was +Johnny-on-the-spot. He steps up to that hole and shows his contract, +giving him an equal share of whatever Wunpost finds--and then he reads a +clause giving him the right to take possession and to work the mine +according to his judgment. And the first thing Wunpost knowed the mine +was worked out and he was left holding the sack. But served him right, +sez I, for trying to beat his outfitter, after eating his grub for two +years!" + +"But didn't he receive _anything_?" inquired Mrs. Campbell. "That +seems to me pretty sharp practice." + +She was a prim little woman, with honest blue eyes that sometimes made +men think of their sins, and when Dusty Rhodes perceived that he had +gone a bit too far he endeavored to justify his spleen. + +"He received _some_!" he cried, "but what good did it do him? Eells +give him five hundred dollars when he demanded an accounting and he +blowed it all in in one night. He was buying the drinks for every man in +camp--your money was all counterfeit with him--and the next morning he +woke up without a shirt to his back, having had it torn off in a fight. +What kind of a man is that to be managing a mine or to be partners with +a big banker like Eells? No, he walked out of camp without a cent to his +name and I picked him up Tuesday over at Furnace Crick. All he had was +his bed and a couple of canteens and a little jerked beef in a sack, but +to hear the poor boob talk you'd think he was a millionaire--he had the +world by the tail. And then, at the end of it, he'd be borrying your +tobacco--or anything else you'd got. But I never would've thought that +he'd steal Billy's mule--that's gitting pretty low, it strikes me." + +"He never stole my mule!" burst out Wilhelmina angrily. "I expect him +back here any time. And when he does come, and you hear about his mine, +I'll bet you change your tune!" + +"Ho! Ho!" shouted Rhodes, nodding and winking at Mrs. Campbell, "she's +getting to be growed-up, ain't she? Last time I come through here she +was a little girl in pigtails but now it's done up in curls. And I can't +say a word against this no-account Wunpost till she calls me a liar to +my face!" + +"Billy is almost nineteen," answered Mrs. Campbell quietly, "but I'm +surprised to hear her contradict." + +"Well, I didn't mean that," apologized Wilhelmina hastily, "but--well +anyhow, I _know_ he's got a mine! Because he showed me a piece of +quartz that he'd carried all the way, and he must have had a reason for +_that_. It was just moonlight, of course, and I couldn't see the +gold, but I know that it was quartz." + +"Ah, Billy, my little girl," returned Dusty indulgently, "you don't know +the boy like I do. And the world is full of quartz but you don't find a +mine right next to a well-worn trail. Have you got that piece of rock? +Well now you see the p'int--he took it _away_! Would he do that if +his mine was on the square?" + +"Well, I don't know why not," answered Billy at last and then she bowed +her head and turned away. They gazed after her pityingly as she ran +along the ditch and up to the mouth of her tunnel, but Billy did not +stop till she had threaded its murky passageway and come out at her gate +of dreams. It was from there that she had seen him when he was lost in +the Sink, and she knew her dream of dreams would come true. He was going +to come back, he was going to bring her mule, and make her his partner +in the mine. She looked out--and there was his dust! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DUSTY RHODES EATS DIRT + + +Billy gazed away in ecstasy at the dust cloud in the distance, and at +the white spot that was Tellurium, her mule; and when the rider came +closer she skipped back through the tunnel and danced along the trail to +the house. Dusty Rhodes was still there, describing in windy detail +Wunpost's encounter with one Pisen-face Lynch, but as she stood before +them smiling he sensed the mischief in her eye and interrupted himself +with a question. + +"He's coming," announced Billy, showing the dimples in both cheeks and +Dusty Rhodes let his jaw drop. + +"Who's coming?" he asked but she dimpled enigmatically and jerked her +curly head towards the road. They started up to look and as the white +mule rounded the point Dusty Rhodes blinked his eyes uncertainly. After +all his talk about the faithless and cowardly Wunpost here he was, +coming up the road; and the memory of a canteen which he had left +strapped upon a pack, rose up and left him cold. Talk as much as he +would he could never escape the fact that he had gone off with Wunpost's +big canteen, and the one subject he had avoided--why he had not stopped +to wait for him--was now likely to be thoroughly discussed. He glanced +about furtively, but there was no avenue of escape and he started off +down to the gate. + +"Where you been all the time?" he shouted in accusing accents, "I've +been looking for you everywhere." + +"Yes, you have!" thundered Wunpost dropping down off his mule and +striding swiftly towards him. "You've been lapping up the booze, over at +Blackwater! I've a good mind to kill you, you old dastard!" + +"Didn't I tell you not to stop?" yelled Rhodes in a feigned fury. "You +brought it all on yourself! I thought you'd gone back----" + +"You did not!" shouted Wunpost waving his fists in the air, "you saw me +behind you all the time. And if I'd ever caught up with you I'd have +bashed your danged brains out, but now I'm going to let you live! I'm +going to let you live so I can have a good laugh every time I see you go +by--Old Dusty Rhodes, the Speed King, the Wild Ass of the Desert, the +man that couldn't stop to get rich! I was running along behind you +trying to make you a millionaire but you wouldn't even give me a drink! +Look at _that_, what I was trying to show you!" + +He whipped out a rock and slapped it into Rhodes' hand but Dusty was +blind with rage. + +"No good!" he said, and chucked it in the dirt at which Wunpost stooped +down and picked it up. + +"You're a peach of a prospector," he said with biting scorn and stored +it away in his pocket. + +"Let me look at that again," spoke up Dusty Rhodes querulously but +Wunpost had spied the ladies. He advanced to the porch, his big black +hat in one hand, while he smoothed his towsled hair with the other, and +the smile which he flashed Billy made her flush and then go pale, for +she had neglected to change back to skirts. Every Sunday morning, and +when they had visitors, she was required to don the true habiliments of +her sex; but her joy at his return had left no room for thoughts of +dress and she found herself in the overalls of a boy. So she stepped +behind her mother and as Wunpost observed her blushes he addressed his +remarks to Mrs. Campbell. + +"Glad to meet you," he exclaimed with a gallantry quite surprising in a +man who could not even spell "one." "I hope you'll excuse my few words +with Mr. Rhodes. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of +meeting ladies and I forgot myself for the moment. I met your daughter +yesterday--good morning, Miss Wilhelmina--and I formed a high opinion of +you both; because a young lady of her breeding must have a mother to be +proud of, and she certainly showed she was game. She saved my life with +that water and lunch, and then she loaned me her mule!" + +He paused and Dusty Rhodes brought his bushy eyebrows down and stabbed +him to the heart with his stare. + +"Lemme look at that rock!" he demanded importantly and John C. Calhoun +returned his glare. + +"Mr. Rhodes," he said, "after the way you have treated me I don't feel +that I owe you any courtesies. You have seen the rock once and that's +enough. Please excuse me, I was talking with these ladies." + +"Aw, you can't fool me," burst out Dusty Rhodes vindictively, "you ain't +sech a winner as you think. I've jest give Mrs. Campbell a bird's-eye +view of your career, so you're coppered on that bet from the start." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Wunpost drawing himself up arrogantly while +his beetle-browed eyes flashed fire; but the challenge in his voice did +not ring absolutely true and Dusty Rhodes grinned at him wickedly. + +"You'd better learn to spell Wunpost," he said with a hectoring laugh, +"before you put on any more dog with the ladies. But I asked you for +that rock and I intend to git a look at it--I claim an interest in +anything you've found." + +"Oh, you do, eh?" returned Wunpost, now suddenly calm. "Well, let me +tell you something, Mr. Rhodes. You wasn't in my company when I found +this chunk of rock, so you haven't got any interest--see? But rather +than have an argument in the presence of these ladies I'll show you the +quartz again." + +He drew out the piece of rock and handed it to Rhodes who stared at it +with sun-blinded eyes--then suddenly he whipped out a case and focussed +a pair of magnifying glasses meanwhile mumbling to himself in broken +accents. + +"Where'd you git that rock?" he asked, looking up, and Wunpost threw out +his chest. + +"Right there at Black Point," he answered carelessly, "you've been +chasing along by it for years." + +"I don't believe it!" burst out Dusty gazing wildly about and mumbling +still louder in the interim. "It ain't possible--I've been right by +there!" + +"But perhaps you never stopped," suggested Wunpost sarcastically and +handed the piece of rock to Mrs. Campbell. + +"Look in them holes," he directed, "they're full of fine gold." And then +he turned to Dusty. + +"No, Mr. Rhodes," he said, "you ain't treated me right or I'd let you in +on this strike. But you went off and left me and therefore you're out of +it, and there ain't any extensions to stake. It's just a single big +blow-out, an eroded volcanic cone, and I've covered it all with one +claim." + +"But you was _traveling_ with me!" yelled Rhodes dancing about like +a jay-bird, "you gimme half or I'll have the law on ye!" + +"Hop to it!" invited Wunpost, "nothing would please me better than to +air this whole case in court. And I'll bet, when I've finished, they'll +take you out of court and hang you to the first tree they find. I'll +just tell them the facts, how you went off and left me and refused to +either stop or leave me water; and then I'll tell the judge how this +little girl came down and saved my life with her mule. I'm not trying to +play the hog--all I want is half the claim--but the other half goes to +Billy. Here's the paper, Wilhelmina; I may not know how to spell but you +bet your life I know who's my friend!" + +He handed over a piece of the paper bag which had been used to wrap up +his lunch, and as Wilhelmina looked she beheld a copy of the notice that +he had posted on his claim. No knight errant of old could have excelled +him in gallantry, for he had given her a full half of his claim; but her +eyes filled with tears, for here, even as at Wunpost, he had betrayed +his ineptitude with the pen. He had named the mine after her but he had +spelled it "Willie Meena" and she knew that his detractors would laugh. +Yet she folded the precious paper and thanked him shyly as he told her +how to have it recorded, and then she slipped away to gloat over it +alone and look through the specimen for gold. + +But Dusty Rhodes, though he had been silenced for the moment, was not +satisfied with the way things had gone; and while Billy was making a +change to her Sunday clothes she heard his complaining voice from the +corrals. He spoke as to the hilltops, after the manner of mountain men +or those who address themselves to mules; and John Calhoun in turn had a +truly mighty voice which wafted every word to her ears. But as she +listened, half in awe at their savage repartee, a third but quieter +voice broke in, and she leapt into her dress and went dashing down the +hill for her father had come back from the mine. He was deaf, and +slightly crippled, as the result of an explosion when his drill had +struck into a missed hole; but to lonely Wilhelmina he was the dearest +of companions and she shouted into his ear by the hour. And, now that he +had come home, the rival claimants were laying their case before him. + +Dusty Rhodes was excited, for he saw the chance of a fortune slipping +away through his impotent fingers; but when Wunpost made answer he was +even more excited, for the memory of his desertion rankled deep. All the +ethics of the desert had been violated by Dusty Rhodes and a human life +put in jeopardy, and as Wunpost dwelt upon his sufferings the old thirst +for revenge rose up till it quite overmastered him. He denounced Dusty's +actions in no uncertain terms, holding him up to the scorn of mankind; +but Dusty was just as vehement in his impassioned defense and in his +claim to a half of the strike. There the ethics of the desert came in +again; for it is a tradition in mining, not unsupported by sound law, +that whoever is with a man at the time of a discovery is entitled to +half the find. And the hold-over from his drinking bout of the evening +before made Dusty unrestrained in his protests. + +The battle was at its height when Wilhelmina arrived and gave her father +a hug and as the contestants beheld her, suddenly transformed to a young +lady, they ceased their accusations and stood dumb. She was a child no +longer, as she had appeared in the bib overalls, but a woman and with +all a woman's charm. Her eyes were very bright, her cheeks a ruddy pink, +her curls a glorious halo for her head; and, standing beside her father, +she took on a naive dignity that left the two fire-eaters abashed. Cole +Campbell himself was a man to be reckoned with--tall and straight as an +arrow, with eyes that never wavered and decision in every line of his +face. His gray hair stood up straight above a brow furrowed with care +and his mustache bristled out aggressively, but as he glanced down at +his daughter his stern eyes suddenly softened and he acknowledged her +presence with a smile. + +"Are they telling you about the strike?" she called into his ear and he +nodded and smiled again. "Let's go up there!" she proposed but he shook +his head and turned to the expectant contestants. + +"Well, gentleman," he said, "as near as I can make out Mr. Rhodes +_has_ a certain right in the property. Mr. Calhoun was traveling +with him and eating his grub, and I believe a court of law would decide +in his favor even if he did go off and leave him in the lurch. But since +my daughter picked him up and supplied him with a mule to go back and +stake out the claim it might be that she also has an equity in the +property, although that is for you gentlemen to decide." + +"That's decided already!" shouted Wunpost angrily, "the claim has been +located in her name. She's entitled to one-half and no burro-chasing +prospector is going to beat her out of any part of it." + +"But perhaps," suggested Campbell with a quick glance at his daughter, +"perhaps she would consent to take a third. And if you would do the same +that would be giving up only one sixth and yet it would obviate a +lawsuit." + +"Yes, and I'll sue him!" yammered Rhodes. "I'll fight him to a whisper! +I'll engage the best lawyers in the country! And if I can't git it no +other way----" + +"That'll do!" commanded Campbell raising his hand for peace, "there's +nothing to be gained by threats. This can all be arranged if you'll just +keep your heads and try to consider it impartially. I'm surprised, Mr. +Rhodes, that you abandoned your pardner and left him without water on +the desert. I've known you a long time and I've always respected you, +but the fact would be against you in court. But on the other hand you +can prove that you rode out this morning and made a diligent search, and +that in itself would probably disprove abandonment, although I can't say +it counts for much with me. But you've asked my opinion, gentlemen, and +there it is; and my advice is to settle this matter right now without +taking the case into court." + +"Well, I'll give him half of my share," broke out Wunpost fretfully, +"but I promised Billy half and she is going to get half--I gave her my +word, and that goes." + +"No, I'll give him half of mine," cried Billy to her father, "because +all I did was lend him Tellurium. But before I agree to it Mr. Rhodes +has got to apologize, because he said he'd steal my mule!" + +"What's that?" inquired her father holding his ear down closer, "I +didn't quite get that last." + +"Why, Dusty Rhodes came up here to look for Mr. Calhoun, and when I told +him that I had loaned him my mule he said Mr. Calhoun would _steal_ +him! And then he went up and told Mother all about it and said that Mr. +Calhoun would do _anything_, and he said he'd probably take +Tellurium to Wild Rose and trade him off to some _squaw_! And when +I defended him he just whooped and laughed at me--and now he's got to +_apologise_!" + +She darted a hateful glance at the perspiring Dusty Rhodes, who was +vainly trying to get Campbell's ear; and at the end of her recital there +was a look in Wunpost's eye that spoke of reprisals to come. The fat was +in the fire, as far as Rhodes was concerned, but he surprised them all +by retracting. He apologized in haste, before Wunpost could make a reach +for him, and then he recanted in detail, and when the tumult was over +they had signed a joint agreement to give him one third of the mine. + +"All right, boys," he yelled, thrusting his copy into his pocket and +making a dash for his horse. "One third! It's all right with me! But if +we'd gone to the courts I'd got half, sure as shooting! 'Sall right, but +just watch my dust!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TREE OF LIFE + + +As the evening came on they walked out together, Wunpost and the +worshipful Wilhelmina, and from the portals of her House of Dreams they +looked out over the Sink where they had met but the evening before. Less +than a single day had passed since their stars had crossed, and already +they were talking of life and eternal friendship and of all the great +dreams that youth loves. Each had given of what they had without +counting the cost or considering what others might say; and now they +walked together like reunited lovers, though their friendship was not +twenty-four hours old. Yet in that single eventful day what a gamut they +had run of the emotions which make up the soul's life--of dangers boldly +met, of mutual sacrifice and trust and the joys of vindication and +success. They had staked all they had in the greatest game in life and, +miracle of miracles, they had won. They had sought out each other's +souls in the murk of death and doubt and each had been proven pure gold; +yet even youth, for all its madness, has its moments of clairvoyance and +Billy sensed that her joy could not last. It was too great, too perfect, +to endure forever, and as she gazed across the desert she sighed. + +"What's the matter?" inquired Wunpost who, after a few hours' sleep, had +awakened in a most expansive mood; but she only sighed again and shook +her head and gazed off across the quivering Sink. It was a hell-hole of +torment to those who crossed its moods and yet in that waste she had +found this man, who had changed her whole outlook on life. He had come +up from the desert, a sun-bronzed young giant, volcanic in his loves and +his hates; and on the morrow the desert would claim him again, for he +was going back to his mine. And her father was going, too--Jail Canyon +would be as empty as it had been for many a long year--and she who +longed to live, to plunge into the swirl of life, would be left there +alone, to dream. + +But what would dreams be after she had tasted the bitter-sweet of living +and learned what it was that she missed; the tug of strong emotions, the +hopes and fears and heartaches that are the fruits of the great Tree of +Life? She wanted to pluck the fruits, be they bitter or sweet, and drain +the world's wine to the dregs; and then, if life went ill, she could +return to her House with something about which to dream. But now she +only sighed and Wunpost took her hand and drew her down beside him in +the shade. + +"Don't you worry about _him_ kid?" he observed mysteriously, "I'll +take care of him, all right. And don't you believe a word he said about +me stealing horses and such. I'm a little rough sometimes when these +jaspers try to rob me, but I never take advantage of a friend. I'm a +Kentucky Calhoun, related to John Caldwell Calhoun, the great orator who +debated with Webster; and a Kentucky Calhoun never forgets a kindness +nor forgives an intentional injury. Dusty Rhodes thinks he's smart, +getting a third of our mine after he went off and left me flat; but I'll +show that old walloper before I get through with him that he can't put +one over on me. And there's a man over in Nevada that's going to learn +the same thing as soon as I make my stake--he's another smart Aleck that +thinks he can job me and get away with highway robbery." + +"Oh, is that Judson Eells?" broke in Billy quickly and Wunpost nodded +his head. + +"That's the hombre," he said his voice waxing louder, "he's one of these +grubstake sharks. He came to Nevada after the Tonopah excitement with a +flunkey they call Flip Flappum. That's another dirty dog that I'm going +to put my mark on when I get him in the door--one of the most low-down, +contemptible curs that I know of--he makes his living by selling bum +life insurance. Phillip F. Lapham is his name but we all call him Flip +Flappum--he's the black-leg lawyer that drew up that contract that made +me lose my mine. Did Dusty tell you about it--then he told you a lie--I +never even read the cussed contract! I was broke, to tell you the truth, +and I'd have signed my own death warrant to get the price of a plate of +beans; and so I put my name in the place where he told me and never +thought nothing about it. + +"It was a grubstake, that's all I knew, giving him half of what I staked +in exchange for what I could eat; but it turned out afterwards it was +like these fire insurance policies, where a man never reads the fine +print. There was more jokers in that contract than in a tinhorn +gambler's deck of cards--he had me peoned for life--and after I'd given +him half my strike he came out and claimed it all. Well, no man would +stand for that but when I went to make a kick there was a rat-faced +guard there waiting for me. Pisen-face Lynch they call him, and if he +was half as bad as he looks he'd be the wild wolf of the world; but he +ain't, not by a long shot, he just had the drop on me, and he run me off +my own claim! I came back and they ganged me and when I woke up I looked +like I'd been through a barbed-wire fence. + +"Well, after that, as the nigger says, I began to think they didn't want +me around there, and so I pulled my freight; and it wasn't a month +afterwards that the ore all pinched out and left Judson Eells belly up. +If he lost one dollar I'll bet he lost fifty thousand, besides tipping +his hand on that contract; and I walked clean back from the lower end of +Death Valley just to see how his lip was hung. He's a big, fat slob, and +when times are good he goes around with his lip pulled up, so! But this +time he looked like an old muley cow that's come through a long, late +spring--his lip was plumb down on his brisket. So I gave him the +horse-laugh, paid my regards to Flip and Lynch, and came away feeling +fine. Because I'll tell you Billy, sure as God made little fishes, +there's a hereafter coming to them three men; and I'm the boy that's +going to deal 'em the misery--you wait, and watch my smoke!" + +He smiled benevolently into Billy's startled eyes, and as the subject +seemed to interest her he settled himself more comfortably and proceeded +with his views on life. + +"Yes sir," he said, "I'll put a torch under them, that'll burn 'em off +the face of the earth. Did you ever see a banker that wasn't a regular +robber--with special attention to widows and orphans? Well, take it from +me, Billy, they're a bunch of crooks--I guess I ought to know. I was +just eleven years old when they foreclosed the mortgage and turned my +mother and us kids into the street; and since then I've done everything +from punching cows to highway robbery but I've never forgot those +bankers. That's how come I signed up with Judson Eells, I thought I was +sticking him good; but he was playing a system and they didn't anybody +tumble to it until I discovered the Wunpost. + +"W'y, there wasn't a prospector in the state of Nevada that hadn't +worked old Eells for a grubstake. We thought he was easy, kind of bugs +on mining like all the rest of these nuts, but the minute I struck the +Wunpost--_bing_, he's there with his contract and we find where +we've all been stung. We're tied up, by grab, with more whereases and +wherefores, and the parties of the first part, and so on, than you'd +find in a book of law; and the boys all found out from what he did to me +that he had us euchered at every turn. I thought I could fool him by +covering up the hole----" + +"Oh, did you do that!" burst out Billy reproachfully, "and I made Dusty +Rhodes apologize!" + +"Never mind," said Wunpost, "that was nothing but jaw-bone. He just said +it to get a share in our mine." + +"No, but listen," protested Billy, "that isn't what I mean. Do you think +it was right to deceive Eells?" + +"Was it _right_, kid!" laughed Wunpost. "That ain't nothing to what +I'm _going_ to do if I ever get the chance. Didn't he hire that +black-leg lawyer to draw up a cinch contract with the purpose of +grabbing all I found? Well then, that shows how honest _he_ +was--and now I'm out after his scalp. I've got to raise a stake, so I +can fight him dollar for dollar; and then, sure as shooting, I'm going +to bust his bank and make him walk out of camp. Was it right--say, +that's a good one--you ain't been around much, have you? Well, that's +all right, Billy; I like you, all the same." + +He nodded approvingly and Billy sat staring, for her world had gone +topsy-turvy again. She had wanted to leave Jail Canyon and go out into +the world, but was it possible that there existed a state of society +where there was no right and wrong? She sat thinking a minute, her head +in a whirl, and then she came back again. + +"But when you covered up this mine and tried to keep it for yourself, +he--had Mr. Eells ever done you any harm?" + +"Well, not yet, kid--that is, I didn't know it--but believe me, his +intentions were good. The time hadn't come, that's all." + +"He was your friend, then," contended Billy, "because Dusty Rhodes +said----" + +"Dusty Rhodes!" bellowed Wunpost and then he paused. "Go on, let's get +this off your chest." + +"Well, he said," continued Billy, "that Mr. Eells gave you everything +and that you lived off his grubstake for two years; so I don't think it +was right, when you finally found a mine----" + +"Say, listen," broke in Wunpost leaning over and tapping her on the knee +while he fixed her with intolerant eyes, "who's your friend, now--Dusty +Rhodes or me?" + +"Why--you are," faltered Billy, "but I don't see----" + +"All right then," pronounced Wunpost, "if I'm your friend, _stay with +me_. Don't tell me what Dusty Rhodes said!" + +"That's all right," she defended, "didn't I make him apologize? But I'm +_your_ friend, too, and I don't think it was right----" + +"Right!" thundered Wunpost, "where do you get this 'right' stuff? Have +you lived up this canyon all your life? Well, you wait until tomorrow, +when the rush is on, and I'll show you how much _right_ there is in +mining! You come down to the mine and I'll show you a bunch of mugs that +would rob you of your claim like _that_! I'm going to be there, +myself, and I'm going to borrow that pistol that you stuck in my ribs +the other night; and the first yap that touches a corner or crosses my +line I'll make him hard to catch. And then will come the promoters, with +their diamonds and certified checks, and they'll offer you millions and +millions; but you stay with me, kid, if they offer you the sub-treasury, +because they'll clean you if you ever sign up. Don't sign nothing, +see--and don't promise anything, either; and I'll tell you about +_me_, I'll do anything for a friend--but that's as far as I go. +They ain't no right and wrong, as far as I'm concerned. I'm like a +danged Injun, I'll keep my word to a friend no matter how the cards +fall; but if that friend turns against me I'll scalp him like +_that_, and hang his hide on the fence! So now you know right where +you'll find me!" + +"Well, all right," retorted Billy, whose Scotch blood was up, "and I'll +tell you right where you'll find _me_. I'll stay with my friends +whether they're right or wrong, but I'll never do anything dishonest. +And if you don't like that you can take back your claim because----" + +"Sure I like it!" cried Wunpost, laughing and patting her hand, "that's +just the kind of a friend I want. But all the same, Billy, this is no +Sunday School picnic--it's more like a dog fight we're going to--and the +only way to stand off that bunch of burglars is to hit 'em with anything +you've got. You've got to grab with both hands and kick with both feet +if you want to win in this mining game; and when you try to fight honest +you're tying one hand behind you, because some of 'em won't stop at +murder. Eells and Flip Flap and their kind don't pretend to be honest, +they just get by with the law; and if you give 'em the edge they'll soak +you in the jaw the first time you turn your head." + +"Well, I don't care," returned Billy, "my father is honest and nobody +ever robbed him of his claim!" + +"Hooh! Who wants it?" jeered Wunpost arrogantly. "I'm talking about a +real mine. Your old man's claims are stuck up in a canyon where a flying +machine couldn't hardly go and about the time he gets his road built +another cloudburst will come along and wash it away. Oh, don't talk to +me, I _know_--I've been all along those peaks and right down past +his mine--and I tell you it isn't worth stealing!" + +"And I've been up there, too, and helped pack out the ore, and I tell +you you don't know what you're talking about!" + +Billy's eyes flashed dangerously as she sprang up to face him and for a +minute they matched their wills; then Wunpost laughed shortly and +stepped out into the open where the sun was just topping the mountains. + +"Well all right, kid," he said, "have your own way about it. It makes no +difference to me." + +"No, I guess not," retorted Billy, "or you'd find out what you were +talking about before you said that my father was a fool. His mine is +just as good as it ever was--all it needs is another road." + +"Yes, and then _another_ road," chimed in Wunpost mockingly, "as +soon as the first cloudburst comes by. And the price of silver is just +half what it was when Old Panamint was on the boom. But that makes no +difference, of course?" + +"Yes, it does," acknowledged Billy whose eyes were gray with rage, "but +the flotation process is so much cheaper than milling that it more than +evens things up. And there hasn't been a cloudburst in thirteen +years--but that makes no difference, of course!" + +She spat it out spitefully and Wunpost curbed his wit for he saw where +his jesting was leading to. When it came to her father this +unsophisticated child would stand up and fight like a wildcat. And he +began to perceive too that she was not such a child--she was a woman, +with the experience of a child. In the ways of the world she was a mere +babe in the woods but in intellect and character she was far from being +dwarfed and her honesty was positively embarrassing. It crowded him into +corners that were hard to get out of and forced him to make excuses for +himself, whereas at the moment he was all lit up with joy over the +miracle of his second big strike. He had discovered the Wunpost, and +lost it on a fluke; but the Willie Meena was different--if he kept the +peace with her they would both come out with a fortune. + +"Never mind now, kid," he said at last, "your father is all right--I +like him. And if he thinks he can get rich by building roads up the +canyon, that's his privilege; it's nothing to me. But you string along +with me on our mine down below and there'll be money and to spare for us +both; and then you can take your share and build the old man a road +that'll make 'em all take notice! About twenty thousand dollars ought to +fix the matter up, but if we get to gee-hawing and Dusty Rhodes mixes in +there won't be a dollar for any of us. We've got to stand together, +see--you and me against old Dusty--and that will give us control." + +"Well, I didn't start the quarrel," said Billy, beginning to blink, "but +it makes me mad, just because father won't give up to have everybody +saying he's crazy. But he isn't--he knows just exactly what he's +doing--and some day he'll be a rich man when these Blackwater +pocket-miners are destitute. The Homestake mine produced half a million +dollars, the second time they opened it up, and if the road hadn't +washed out it would be producing yet and my father would be rated a +millionaire. If he would sell out his claims, or just organize a company +and give outside capitalists control----" + +"Don't you do it!" warned Wunpost, who made a very poor listener, +"they'll skin you, every time. The party that has control can take over +the property and exclude the minority stockholders from the ground, and +all they can do is to sue for an accounting and demand a look at the +books. But the books are nothing, it's what's underground that counts, +and if you try to go down they can kill you. I learned that from Judson +Eells when he put me out of Wunpost--and say, we can work that on Dusty! +We'll treat him white at first, but the minute he gets gay, it's the +gate--we'll give him the gate!" + +He pranced about joyously, vainly trying to make her smile, but +Wilhelmina had lost her gaiety. + +"No," she said, "let's not do that--because I made him apologize, you +know. But don't you think it's possible that Judson Eells will follow +after you and claim this mine too, under his contract?" + +"He can't!" chuckled Wunpost starting to do a double-shuffle, "I fooled +him--this isn't Nevada. And when I found the Wunpost I was eating his +grub, but this time I was strictly on my own. I came to a country where +I'd never been before, so he couldn't say I'd covered it up; and that +contract was made out in the state of Nevada, but this is clear over in +California. Not a chance, kid, we're rich, cheer up!" + +He tried to grab her hand but she drew it away from him and an anxious +look crept into her eyes. + +"No," she said, "let's not be foolish." Already the great dream had +sped. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WILLIE MEENA + + +The morning had scarcely dawned when Wilhelmina dashed up the trail and +looked down on the Sink below; and Wunpost had been right, where before +all was empty, now the Death Valley Trail was alive. From Blackwater to +Wild Rose Wash the dust rose up in clouds, each streamer boring on +towards the north; and already the first stampeders had passed out of +sight in their rush for the Black Point strike. It lay beyond North +Pass, cut off from view by the shoulder of a long, low ridge; but there +it was, and her claim and Wunpost's was already swarming with men. The +whole town of Blackwater had risen up in the night and gone streaking +across the Sink, and what was to keep those envious pocket-miners from +claiming the find for their own? And Dusty Rhodes--he must have led the +stampede--had he respected his partners' rights? She gazed a long +moment, then darted back through the tunnel and bore the news to her +father and Wunpost. + +He had slept in the hay, this hardy desert animal, this shabby, +penniless man with the loud voice of a demagogue and the profile of a +bronze Greek god; and he came forth boldly, like Odysseus of old when, +cast ashore on a strange land, he roused from his sleep and beheld +Nausicaa and her maidens at play. But as Nausicaa, the princess, +withstood his advance when all her maidens had fled, so Wilhelmina faced +him, for she knew full well now that he was not a god. He was a +water-hole prospector who for two idle years had eaten the bread of +Judson Eells; and then, when chance led him to a rich vein of ore, had +covered up the hole and said nothing. Yet for all his human weaknesses +he had one godlike quality, a regal disregard for wealth; for he had +kept his plighted word and divided, half and half, this mine towards +which all Blackwater now rushed. She looked at him again and her rosy +lips parted--he had earned the meed of a smile. + +The day had dawned auspiciously, as far as Billy was concerned, for she +was back in her overalls and her father had consented to take her along +to the mine. The claim was part hers and Wunpost had insisted that she +accompany them back to the strike. Dusty Rhodes would be there, with his +noisy demands and his hints at greater rights in the claim; and in the +first wild rush complications might arise that would call for a speedy +settlement. But with Billy at his side and Cole Campbell as a witness, +every detail of their agreement could be proved on the instant and the +Willie Meena started off right. So Wunpost smiled back when he beheld +the make-believe boy who had come to his aid on her mule; and as they +rode off down the canyon, driving four burros, two packed with water, he +looked her over approvingly. + +In skirts she had something of the conventional reserve which had always +made him scared of women; but as a boy, as Billy, she was one partner in +a thousand, and as carefree as the wind. Upon the back of her saddle, +neatly tied up in a bag, she carried the dress that she would wear at +the mine; but riding across the mesa on the lonely Indian trail she +clung to the garb of utility. In overalls she had ridden up and down the +corkscrew canyon that led to her father's mine; she had gone out to hunt +for burros, dragged in wood and carried up water and done the daily +duties of a man. Both her brothers were gone, off working in the mines, +and their tasks descended to her; until in stride and manner and speech +she was by instinct, a man and only by thought a woman. + +The years had slipped by, even her mother had hardly noticed how she too +had grown up like the rest; and now in one day she had stepped forth +into their councils and claimed her place as a man. Yes, that was the +place that she had instinctively claimed but they had given her the +place of a woman. When it came to prospecting among the lonely peaks she +could go as far as she chose; but in the presence of men, even as an +owner in the great mine, she must confine her free limbs within skirts. +And, though she had come of age, she was still in tutelage--with two men +along to do her thinking. Wunpost had made it easy, all she had to do +was stand pat and agree to whatever he said; and her father was there to +protect her in her rights and preserve the family honor from loose +tongues. + +They skirted the edge of the valley, keeping up above the Sink and +crossing an endless series of rocky washes, until as they topped the +last low ridge the Black Point lay before them, surrounded by a swarm of +digging men. It jutted out from the ridge, a round volcanic cone +sticking up through the shattered porphyry; and yet this point of rock, +all but buried in the wash of centuries, held a treasure fit to ransom a +king. It held the Willie Meena mine, which had lain there by the trail +while thousands of adventurers hurried past; until at last Wunpost had +stopped to examine it and had all but perished of thirst. But one there +was who had seen him, and saved him from the Sink, and loaned him her +mule to ride; and in honor of her, though he could not spell her name, +he had called it the Willie Meena. + +Billy sat on Tellurium and gazed with rapt wonder at the scene which +stretched out below. Wagons and horses everywhere, and automobiles too, +and dejected-looking burros and mules; and in the rough hills beyond men +were climbing like goats as they staked the lava-crowned buttes. A +procession of Indian wagons was filing up the gulch to haul water from +Wild Rose Spring and already the first tent of what would soon be a city +was set up opposite the point. In a few hours there would be twenty up, +in a few days a hundred, in a few months it would be a town; and all +named for her, who had been given a half by Wunpost and yet had hardly +murmured her thanks. She turned to him smiling but as she was about to +speak her father caught her eye. + +"Put on your dress," he said, and she retired, red with chagrin, to +struggle into that accursed badge of servitude. It was hot, the sun +boiled down as it does every day in that land where the rocks are burned +black; and, once she was dressed, she could not mount her mule without +seeming to be immodest. So she followed along behind them, leading +Tellurium by his rope, and entered her city of dreams unnoticed. Calhoun +strode on before her, while Campbell rounded up the burros, and the men +from Blackwater stared at him. He was a stranger to them all, but +evidently not to boom camps, for he headed for the solitary tent. + +"Good morning to you, gentlemen," he called out in his great voice; +"won't you join me--let's all have a drink!" + +The crowd fell in behind him, another crowd opened up in front, and he +stood against the bar, a board strewn thick with glasses and tottering +bottles of whiskey. An old man stood behind it, wagging his beard as he +chewed tobacco, and as he set out the glasses he glanced up at Wunpost +with a curious, embittered smile. He was white-faced and white-bearded, +stooped and gnarled like a wind-tortured tree, and the crook to his nose +made one think instinctively of pictures of the Wandering Jew. Or +perhaps it was the black skull-cap, set far back on his bent head, which +gave him the Jewish cast; but his manner was that of the rough-and-ready +barkeeper and he slapped one wet hand on the bar. + +"Here's to her!" cried Wunpost, ignoring the hint to pay as he raised +his glass to the crowd. "Here's to the Willie Meena--some mine!" + +He tossed off the drink, but when he looked for the chaser the barkeeper +shook his head. + +"No chasers," he said, "water is too blasted scarce--that'll be three +dollars and twenty-five cents." + +"Charge it to ground-rent!" grinned Wunpost. "I'm the man that owns this +claim. See you later--where's Dusty Rhodes?" + +"No--_cash_!" demanded the barkeeper, looking him coldly in the +eye. "I'm in on this claim myself." + +"Since when?" inquired Wunpost. "Maybe you don't know who I am? I am +John C. Calhoun, the man that discovered Wunpost; and unless I'm greatly +mistaken you're not in on anything--who gave you any title to this +ground?" + +"Dusty Rhodes," croaked the saloon-keeper, and a curse slipped past +Wunpost's lips, though he knew that a lady was near. + +"Well, damn Dusty Rhodes!" he cried in a passion. "Where is the crazy +fool?" + +He burst from the crowd just as Dusty came hurrying across from where he +had been digging out ore; and for a minute they stood clamoring, both +shouting at once, until at last Wunpost seized him by the throat. + +"Who's this old stiff with whiskers?" he yelled into his ear, "that +thinks he owns the whole claim? Speak up, or I'll wring your neck!" + +He released his hold and Dusty Rhodes staggered back, while the crowd +looked on in alarm. + +"W'y, that's Whiskers," explained Dusty, "the saloon-keeper down in +Blackwater. I guess I didn't tell you but he give me a grubstake and so +he gits half my claim." + +"_Your_ claim!" echoed Wunpost. "Since when was this your claim? +You doddering old tarrapin, you only own one-third of it--and that ain't +yours, by rights. How much do you claim, I say?" + +"W'y--I only claim one third," responded Dusty weakly, "but Whiskers, he +claims that I'm entitled to a half----" + +"A half!" raged Wunpost, starting back towards the saloon. "I'll show +the old billygoat what he owns!" + +He kicked over the bar with savage destructiveness, jerking up a +tent-peg with each brawny hand, and as the old man cowered he dragged +the tent forward until it threatened every moment to come down. + +"Git out of here!" he ordered, "git off of my ground! I discovered this +claim and it's located in my name--now git, before I break you in two!" + +"Here, here!" broke in Cole Campbell, laying a hand on Wunpost's arm as +the saloon-keeper began suddenly to beg, "let's not have any violence. +What's the trouble?" + +"Why, this old spittoon-trammer," began Wunpost in a fury, "has got the +nerve to claim half my ground. I've been beat out of one claim, but this +time it's different--I'll show him who owns this ground!" + +"I just claim a quarter of it!" snapped old Whiskers vindictively. "I +claim half of Dusty Rhodes' share. He was working on my grubstake--and +he was with you when you made your strike." + +"He was not!" denied Wunpost, "he went off and left me. Did you find his +name on the notice? No, you found John C. Calhoun and Williemeena +Campbell, the girl that loaned me her mule. We're the locators of this +property, and, just to keep the peace, we agreed to give Dusty one +third; but that ain't a half and if you say it is again, out you +go--I'll throw you off my claim!" + +"Well, a third, then," screeched Old Whiskers, holding his hands about +his ears, "but for cripes' sake quit jerking that tent! Ain't a third +enough to give me a right to put up my tent on the ground?" + +"It is if I say so," replied Wunpost authoritatively, "and if +Williemeena Campbell consents. But git it straight now--we're running +this property and you and Dusty are _nothing_. You're the minority, +see, and if you make a crooked move we'll put you both off the claim. +Can you git that through your head?" + +"Well, I guess so," grumbled Whiskers, stooping to straighten up his +bar, and Wunpost winked at the crowd. + +"Set 'em up again!" he commanded regally and all Blackwater drank on the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CINCHED + + +Having established his rights beyond the peradventure of a doubt, the +imperious Wunpost left Old Whiskers to recoup his losses and turned to +the wide-eyed Wilhelmina. She had been standing, rooted to the earth, +while he assaulted Old Whiskers and Rhodes; and as she glanced up at him +doubtfully he winked and grinned back at her and spoke from behind the +cover of his hand. + +"That's the system!" he said. "Git the jump on 'em--treat 'em rough! +Come on, let's go look at our mine!" + +He led the way to Black Point, where the bonanza vein of quartz came +down and was buried in the sand; and while the crowd gazed from afar +they looked over their property, though Billy moved like one in a dream. +Her father was engaged in placating Dusty Rhodes and in explaining their +agreement to the rest, and she still felt surprised that she had ever +consented to accompany so desperate a ruffian. Yet as he knocked off a +chunk of ore and showed her the specks of gold, scattered through it +with such prodigal richness, she felt her old sense of security return; +for he had never been rough with her. It was only with Old Whiskers, the +grasping Blackwater saloon-keeper, and with the equally avaricious Dusty +Rhodes--who had been trying to steal more than their share of the +prospect and to beat her out of her third. They had thought to ignore +her, to brush her aside and usurp her share in the claim; but Wunpost +had defended her and protected her rights and put them back where they +belonged. And it was for this that he had seized Dusty Rhodes by the +throat and kicked down the saloon-keeper's bar. But she wondered what +would happen if, at some future time, she should venture to oppose his +will. + +The vein of quartz which had caught Wunpost's eye was enclosed within +another, not so rich, and a third mighty ledge of low-grade ore encased +the two of them within its walls. This big dyke it was which formed the +backbone of the point, thrusting up through the half-eroded porphyry; +and as it ran up towards its apex it was swallowed and overcapped by the +lava from the old volcanic cone. + +"Look at that!" exclaimed Wunpost, knocking off chunk after chunk; and +as a crowd began to gather he dug down on the richest streak, giving the +specimens to the first person who asked. The heat beat down upon them +and Campbell called Wilhelmina to the shelter of his makeshift tent, but +on the ledge Wunpost dug on untiringly while the pocket-miners gathered +about. They knew, if he did not, the value of those rocks which he +dispensed like so much dirt, and when he was not looking they gathered +up the leavings and even knocked off more for themselves. There had been +hungry times in the Blackwater district, and some of this quartz was +half gold. + +An Indian wood-hauler came down from Wild Rose Spring with his wagon +filled with casks of water, and as he peddled his load at two-bits a +bucket the camp took on a new lease of life. Old Whiskers served a +chaser with each drink of whiskey; coffee was boiled and cooking began; +and all the drooping horses were banded together and driven up the +canyon to the spring. It was only nine miles, and the Indians would keep +on hauling, but already Wunpost had planned to put in a pipe-line and +make Willie Meena a town. He stood by Campbell's tent while the crowd +gathered about and related the history of his strike, and then he went +on with his plans for the mine and his predictions of boom times to +come. + +"Just you wait," he said, bulking big in the moonlight; "you wait till +them Nevada boomers come. Things are dead over there--Keno and Wunpost +are worked out; they'll hit for this camp to a man. And when they come, +gentlemen, you want to be on your ground, because they'll jump anything +that ain't held down. Just wait till they see this ore and then watch +their dust--they'll stake the whole country for miles--but I've only got +one claim, and I'm going to stay on it, and the first man that jumps it +will get this." + +He slapped the big pistol that he had borrowed from Wilhelmina and +nodded impressively to the crowd; and the next morning early he was over +at the hole, getting ready for the rush that was to come. For the news +of the strike had gone out from Blackwater on the stage of the evening +before, and the moment it reached the railroad it would be wired to Keno +and to Tonopah and Goldfield beyond. Then the stampede would begin, over +the hills and down into Death Valley and up Emigrant Wash to the +springs; and from there the first automobiles would burn up the ground +till they struck Wild Rose Canyon and came down. Wunpost got out a +hammer and drill, and as he watched for the rush he dug out more +specimens to show. Wilhelmina stood beside him, putting the best of them +into an ore-sack and piling the rest on the dump; and as he met her glad +smile he laid down his tools and nodded at her wisely. + +"Big doings, kid," he said. "There's some rock that'll make 'em scream. +D'ye remember what I said about Dusty Rhodes? Well, maybe I didn't call +the turn--he did just exactly what I said. When he got to Blackwater he +claimed the strike was his and framed it up with Whiskers to freeze us +out. They thought they had us jumped--somebody knocked down my monument, +and that's a State Prison offense--but I came back at 'em so quick they +were whipped before they knew it. They acknowledged that the claim was +mine. Well, all right, kid, let's keep it; you tag right along with me +and back up any play that I make, and if any of these boomers from +Nevada get funny we'll give 'em the gate, the gate!" + +He did a little dance and Billy smiled back feebly, for it was all very +bewildering to her. She had expected, of course, a certain amount of +lawless conduct; but that Dusty Rhodes, an old friend of their family, +should conspire to deprive her of her claim was almost inconceivable. +And that Wunpost should instantly seize him by the throat and force him +to renounce his claims was even more surprising. But of course he had +warned her, he had told her all about it, and predicted even bolder +attempts; and yet here he was, digging out the best of his ore to give +to these same Nevada burglars. + +"What do you give them all the ore for?" she asked at last. "Why don't +you keep it, and we can pound out the gold?" + +"We have to play the game, kid," he answered with a shrug. "That's the +way they always do." + +"Yes, but I should think it would only make them worse. When they see +how rich it is maybe someone will try to jump us--do you think Judson +Eells will come?" + +"Sure he'll come," answered Wunpost. "He'll be one of the first." + +"And will you give him a specimen?" + +"Surest thing--I'll give him a good one. I believe that's a machine, up +the wash." + +He shaded his eyes, and as they gazed up the winding canyon a monster +automobile swung around the curve. A flash and it was gone, only to rush +into view a second time and come bubbling and thundering down the wash. +It drew up before the point and four men leapt out and headed straight +for the hole; not a word was said, but they seemed to know by instinct +just where to find the mine. Wunpost strode to meet them and greeted +them by name, they came up and looked at the ground; and then, as +another machine came around the point, they asked him his price, for +cash. + +"Nothing doing, gentlemen," answered Wunpost. "It's too good to sell. +It'll pay from the first day it's worked." + +He went down to meet the second car of stampeders, and his answer to +them was the same. And each time he said it he turned to Wilhelmina, who +gravely nodded her head. It was his mine; he had found it and only given +her a share of it, and of course they must stand together; but as +machine after machine came whirling down the canyon and the bids mounted +higher and higher a wistful look came into Wilhelmina's eye and she went +down and sat with her father. It was for him that she wanted the money +that was offered her--to help him finish the road he had been working on +so long--but she did not speak, and he too sat silent, looking on with +brooding eyes. Something seemed to tell them both that trouble was at +hand, and when, after the first rush, a single auto rumbled in, Billy +rose to her feet apprehensively. A big man with red cheeks, attired in a +long linen duster, descended from the curtained machine, and she flew to +the side of Wunpost. + +It was Judson Eells; she would know him anywhere from the description +that Wunpost had given, and as he came towards the hole she took in +every detail of this man who was predestined to be her enemy. He was big +and fat, with a high George the Third nose and the florid smugness of a +country squire, and as he returned Wunpost's greeting his pendulous +lower lip was thrust up in arrogant scorn. He came on confidently, and +behind him like a shadow there followed a mysterious second person. His +nose was high and thin, his cheeks gaunt and furrowed, and his eyes +seemed brooding over some terrible wrong which had turned him against +all mankind. At first glance his face was terrifying in its fierceness, +and then the very badness of it gave the effect of a caricature. His +eyebrows were too black, his lips too grim, his jaw too firmly set; and +his haggard eyes looked like those of a woman who is about to burst into +hysterical tears. It was Pisen-face Lynch, and as Wunpost caught his eye +he gave way to a mocking smirk. + +"Ah, good morning, Mr. Eells," he called out cordially, "good morning, +good morning Mr. Lynch! Well, well, glad to see you--how's the bad man +from Bodie? Meet my partner, Miss Wilhelmina Campbell!" + +He presented her gallantly and as Wilhelmina bowed she felt their +hostile eyes upon her. + +"Like to look at our mine?" rattled on Wunpost affably. "Well, here it +is, and she's a world-beater. Take a squint at that rock--you won't need +no glasses--how's that, Mr. Eells, for the pure quill?" + +Eells looked at the specimen, then looked at it again, and slipped it +into his pocket. + +"Yes, rich," he said in a deep bass voice, "very rich--it looks like a +mine. But--er--did I understand you to say that Miss Campbell was your +partner? Because really you know----" + +"Yes, she's my partner," replied Wunpost. "We hold the controlling +interest. Got a couple more partners that own a third." + +"Because really," protested Eells, "under the terms of our contract----" + +"Oh, to hell with your contract!" burst out Wunpost scornfully. "Do you +think that will hold over here?" + +"Why, undoubtedly!" exclaimed Eells. "I hope you didn't think--but no +matter, I claim half of this mine." + +"You won't get it," answered Wunpost. "This is over in California. Your +contract was made for Nevada." + +"It was made _in_ Nevada," corrected Judson Eells promptly, "but it +applied to all claims, _wherever found_! Would you like to see a +copy of the contract?" He turned to the automobile, and like a +jack-in-the-box a little lean man popped out. + +"No!" roared Wunpost, and looked about wildly, at which Cole Campbell +stepped up beside him. + +"What's the trouble?" he asked, and as Wunpost shouted into his ear +Campbell shook his head and smiled dubiously. + +"Let's look at the contract," he suggested, and Wunpost, all unstrung, +consented. Then he grabbed him back and yelled into his ear: + +"_That's_ no good now--he's used it once already!" + +"How do you mean?" queried Campbell, still reaching for the contract; +and the jack-in-the-box thrust it into his hands. + +"Why, he used that same paper to claim the Wunpost--he can't claim every +mine I find!" + +"Well, we'll see," returned Campbell, putting on his glasses, and +Wunpost flew into a fury. + +"Git out of here!" he yelled, making a kick at Pisen-face Lynch; "git +out, or I'll be the death of ye!" + +But Pisen-face Lynch recoiled like a rattlesnake and stood set with a +gun in each hand. + +"Don't you think it," he rasped, and Wunpost turned away from him with a +groan of mortal agony. + +"What does it say?" he demanded of Campbell. "Can he claim this mine, +too? But say, listen; I wasn't _working_ for him! I was working for +myself, and furnishing my own grub--and I've never been through here +before! He can't claim I found it when I was under his grubstake, +because I've never been into this country!" + +He stopped, all a-tremble, and looked on helplessly while Cole Campbell +read on through the "fine print"; and, not being able to read the words, +he watched the face of the deaf man like a criminal who hopes for a +reprieve. But there was no reprieve for Wunpost, for the paper he had +signed made provision against every possible contingency; and the man +who had drawn it stood there smiling triumphantly--the jack-in-the-box +was none other than Lapham. Wunpost watched till he saw his last hope +flicker out, then whirled on the gloating lawyer. Phillip F. Lapham was +tall and thin, with the bloodless pallor of a lunger, but as Wunpost +began to curse him a red spot mounted to each cheek-bone and he pointed +his lanky forefinger like a weapon. + +"Don't you threaten me!" he cried out vindictively, "or I'll have you +put under bond. The fault is your own if you failed to read this +contract, or failed to understand its intent. But there it stands, a +paper of record and unbeatable in any court in the land. I challenge you +to break it--every provision is reciprocal--it is sound both in law and +equity! And under clause seven my client, Mr. Eells, is entitled to +one-half of this claim!" + +"But I only own one-third of it!" protested Wunpost desperately. "I +located it for myself and Wilhelmina Campbell, and then we gave Dusty +Rhodes a third." + +"That's beside the point," answered Lapham briefly. "If you were the +original and sole discoverer, Mr. Eells is entitled to one-half, and any +agreements which you have made with others will have to be modified +accordingly." + +"What do you mean?" yelled a voice, and Dusty Rhodes, who had been +listening, now jumped into the center of the arena. "I'll have you to +understand," he cried in a fury, "that I'm entitled to a full half in +this claim. I was with this man Wunpost when he made the discovery, and +according to mining law I'm entitled to one-half of it--I don't give +_that_ for you and your contract!" + +He snapped his fingers under the lawyer's nose and Lapham drew back, +startled. + +"Then in that case," stated Wunpost, "I don't get _anything_--and +I'm the man that discovered it! But I'll tell you, my merry men, there's +another law yet, when a man is sure he's right!" + +He tapped his six-shooter and even Lynch blenched, for the fighting +light had come into his eyes. "No," went on Wunpost, "you can't work +that on me. I found this mine and I'm going to have half of it or shoot +it out with the bunch of ye!" + +"You can have my share," interposed Wilhelmina tremulously, and he +flinched as if struck by a whip. + +"I don't want it!" he snarled. "It's these high-binders I'm after. You, +Dusty, you don't get anything now. If this big fat slob is going to +claim half my mine, you can _law_ us--he'll have to pay the bills. +Now git, you old dastard, and if you horn in here again I'll show you +where you head _out_!" He waved him away, and Dusty Rhodes slunk +off, for a guilty conscience makes cowards of us all; but Judson Eells +stood solid as adamant, though his lawyer was whispering in his ear. + +"Go and see him," nodded Eells, and as Lapham followed Rhodes he turned +to the excited Wunpost. + +"Mr. Calhoun," he began, "I see no reason to withdraw from my position +in regard to this claim. This contract is legal and was made in good +faith, and moreover I can prove that I paid out two thousand dollars +before you ever located a claim. But all that can be settled in court. +If you have given Miss Campbell a third, her share is now a sixth, +because only half of the mine was yours to give; and so on with the +rest, though if Mr. Rhodes' claim is valid we will allow him his +original one-third. Now what would you say if I should allow _you_ +one-third, of which you can give Miss Campbell what you wish, and I will +keep the other, allowing Mr. Rhodes the last--each one of us to hold a +third interest?" + +"I would say----" burst out Wunpost, and then he stopped, for Wilhelmina +was tugging at his arm. She spoke quickly into his ear, he flared up and +then subsided, and at last he turned sulkily to Eells. + +"All right," he said, "I'll take the third. I see you've got me +cinched." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MORE DREAMS + + +In four days time Wunpost had seen his interest dwindle from full +ownership to a mere sixth of the Willie Meena. First he had given Billy +half, then they had each given Rhodes a sixth; and now Judson Eells had +stepped in with his contract and trimmed their holdings by a half. In +another day or so, if the ratio kept up, Wunpost's sixth would be +reduced to a twelfth, a twenty-fourth, a forty-eighth, a +ninety-sixth--and he had discovered the mine himself! What philosophy or +sophistry can reconcile a man to such buffets from the hand of Fate? +Wunpost cursed and turned to raw whiskey. It was the infamy of it all; +the humiliation, the disgrace, the insult of being trimmed by a +lawyer--twice! Yes, twice in the same place, with the same contract, the +same system; and now this same Flip Flappum was busy as a hunting dog +trying to hire one of his partners to sell him out! + +Wunpost towered above Old Whiskers, and so terrible was his presence +that the saloon-keeper never hinted at pay. He poured out drink after +drink of the vitriolic whiskey, which Whiskers made in the secrecy of +his back-room; and as Wunpost drank and shuddered the waspish Phillip F. +Lapham set about his complete undoing. First he went to Dusty Rhodes, +who still claimed a full half, and browbeat him until he fell back to a +third; and then, when Dusty priced his third at one million, he turned +to the disillusioned Billy. Her ideas were more moderate, as far as +values were concerned, but her loyalty to Wunpost was still unshaken and +she refused to even consider a sale. Back and forth went the lawyer like +a shuttle in its socket, from Dusty Rhodes to Wilhelmina and then back +once more to Rhodes; but Dusty would sign nothing, sell nothing, agree +to nothing, and Billy was almost as bad. She placed a cash value of +twenty thousand dollars on her interest in the Willie Meena Mine, but +the sale was contingent upon the consent of John C. Calhoun, who had +drowned his sorrows at last. So they waited until morning and Billy laid +the matter before him when her father brought the drunken man to their +tent. + +Wunpost was more than drunk, he was drugged and robbed of reason by the +poison which Old Whiskers had brewed; but even with this handicap his +mind leapt straight to the point and he replied with an emphatic "No!" + +"Twenty thousand!" he repeated, "twenty thousand devils--twenty thousand +little demons from hell! What do you want to sell me out for--didn't I +give you your interest? Well, listen, kid--you ever been to school? Then +how much is one-sixth and one-third--add 'em together! Makes +_three_-sixths, don't it--well, ain't that a half? I ain't +educated, that's all right; but I can _think_, kid, can't I? Flip +Flappum he wants to get control. Give him a half, under my contract, and +he can take possession--and then where do _I_ git off? I git off at +the same place I got off over at Wunpost; he's trying to freeze me out. +So if you want to do me dirt, kid, when I've always been your friend, go +to it and sell him your share. Take your paltry twenty thousand and let +old Wunpost rustle--serves him right, the poor, ignorant fool!" + +He swayed about and Billy drew away from him, but her answer to Lapham +was final. She would not sell out, at any price, without the consent of +Wunpost. Lapham nodded and darted off--he was a man who dealt with facts +and not with the moonshine of sentiment--and this time he fairly flew at +Dusty Rhodes. He took him off to one side, where no one could listen in, +and at the end of half an hour Mr. Rhodes had signed a paper giving a +quit-claim to his interest in the mine. Old Whiskers was summoned from +his attendance on the bottles, the lawyer presented his case; and, +whatever the arguments, they prevailed also with the saloon-keeper, who +signed up and took his check. Presumably they had to do with threats of +expensive litigation and appeals to the higher courts, with a learned +exposition of the weakness of their case and the air-tight position of +Judson Eells; the point is, they prevailed, and Eells took possession of +the mine, placing Pisen-face Lynch in charge. + +Old Whiskers folded his tent and returned to Blackwater, where many of +the stampeders had preceded him; and Dusty Rhodes, with a guilty grin, +folded his check and started for the railroad. Cole Campbell and his +daughter, when they heard the news and found themselves debarred from +the property, packed up and took the trail home, and when John C. +Calhoun came out of his coma he was left without a friend in the world. +The rush had passed on, across the Sink to Blackwater and to the gulches +in the mountains beyond; for the men from Nevada had not been slow to +comprehend that the Willie Meena held no promise for them. + +It was a single rich blow-out in a country otherwise barren; and the +tales of the pocket miners, who held claims back of Blackwater, had led +to a second stampede. The Willie Meena was a prophecy of what might be +expected if a similar formation could be found, but it was no more than +the throat of an extinct volcano, filled up with gold-bearing quartz. +There was no fissure-vein, no great mother lode leading off through the +country for miles; only a hogback of black quartz and then worlds and +worlds of desert as barren as wash boulders could make it. So they rose +and went on, like birds in full flight after they have settled for a +moment on the plain, and when Wunpost rose up and rubbed his eyes his +great camp had passed away like a dream. + +Two days later he walked wearily across the desert from Blackwater, with +a two gallon canteen under his arm, and at the entrance to Jail Canyon +he paused and looked in doubtfully before he shambled up to the house. +He was broke, and he knew it, and added to that shame was the greater +shame that comes from drink. Old Whiskers' poisonous whiskey had sapped +his self-respect, and yet he came on boldly. There was a fever in his +eye like that of the gambler who has lost all, yet still watches the +fall of the cards; and as Wilhelmina came out he winked at her +mysteriously and beckoned her away from the house. + +"I've got something good," he told her confidentially; "can you get off +to go down to Blackwater?" + +"Why, I might," she said. "Father's working up the canyon. Is it +something about the mine?" + +"Yes, it is," he answered. "Say, what d'ye think of Dusty? He sold us +out for five thousand dollars! Five thousand--that's all--and Old +Whiskers took the same, giving Judson Eells full control. They cleaned +us, Billy, but we'll get our cut yet--do you know what they're trying to +do? Eells is going to organize a company and sell a few shares in order +to finance the mine; and if we want to, kid, we can turn in our third +interest and get the pro rata in stock. We might as well do it, because +they've got the control and otherwise we won't get anything. They've +barred us off the property and we'll never get a cent if it produces a +million dollars. But look, here's the idea--Judson Eells is badly bent +on account of what he lost at Wunpost, and he's crazy to organize a +company and market the treasury stock. We'll go in with him, see, and as +soon as we get our stock we'll peddle it for what we can get. That'll +net us a few thousand and you can take your share and help the old man +build his road." + +The stubborn look on Billy's face suddenly gave place to one of doubt +and then to one of swift decision. + +"I'll do it," she said. "We don't need to see Father--just tell them +that I've agreed. And when the time comes, send an Indian up to notify +me and I'll ride down and sign the papers." + +"Good enough!" exclaimed Wunpost with a hint of his old smile. "I'll +come up and tell you myself. Have you heard the news from below? Well, +every house in Blackwater is plumb full of boomers--and them +pocket-miners are all selling out. The whole country's staked, clean +back to the peaks, and old Eells says he's going to start a bank. +There's three new saloons, a couple more restaurants, and she sure looks +like a good live camp--and me, the man that started it and made the +whole country, I can't even bum a drink!" + +"I'm glad of it," returned Billy, and regarded him so intently that he +hastened to change the subject. + +"But you wait!" he thundered. "I'll show 'em who's who! I ain't down, by +no manner of means. I've got a mine or two hid out that would make 'em +fairly scream if I'd show 'em a piece of the rock. All I need is a +little capital, just a few thousand dollars to get me a good outfit of +mules, and I'll come back into Blackwater with a pack-load of ore +that'll make 'em _all_ sit up and take notice." + +He swung his fist into his hand with oratorical fervor and Mrs. Campbell +appeared suddenly at the door. Her first favorable impression of the +gallant young Southerner had been changed by the course of events and +she was now morally certain that the envious Dusty Rhodes had come +nearer the unvarnished truth. To be sure he had apologized, but Wunpost +himself had said that it was only to gain a share in the mine--and how +lamentably had Wunpost failed, after all his windy boasts, when it came +to a conflict with Judson Eells. He had weakened like a schoolboy, all +his arguments had been puerile; and even her husband, who was far from +censorious, had stated that the whole affair was badly handled. And now +here he was, after a secret conference with her daughter, suddenly +bursting into vehement protestations and hinting at still other hidden +mines. Well, his mines might be as rich as he declared them to be, but +Mrs. Campbell herself was dubious. + +"Wilhelmina," she called, "don't stand out in the sun! Why don't you +invite Mr. Calhoun to the house?" + +The hint was sufficient, Mr. Calhoun excused himself hastily and went +striding away down the canyon; and Wilhelmina, after a perfunctory +return to the house, slipped out and ran up to her lookout. Not a word +that he had said about the rush to Blackwater was in any way startling +to her; she had seen every dust-cloud, marked each automobile as it +rushed past, and even noted the stampede from the west. For the natural +way to Blackwater was not across Death Valley from the distant Nevada +camps, but from the railroad which lay only forty miles to the west and +was reached by an automobile stage. The road came down through +Sheep-herder Canyon, on the other side of the Sink, and every day as she +looked across its vastness she saw the long trailers of dust. She knew +that the autos were rushing in with men and the slow freighters were +hauling in supplies--all the real news for her was the number of saloons +and restaurants, and that Eells was starting a bank. + +A bank! And in Blackwater! The only bank that Blackwater had ever had or +needed was the safe in Old Whiskers' saloon; and now this rich schemer, +this iron-handed robber, was going to start a bank! Billy lay inside the +portal of her gate of dreams and watched Wunpost as he plodded across +the plain, and she resolved to join with him and do her level best to +bring Eells' plans to naught. If he was counting on the sale of his +treasury stock to fill up the vaults of his bank he would find others in +the market with stock in both hands, peddling it out to the highest +bidder. And even if the mine was worth into the millions, she, for one, +would sell every share. It was best, after all, since Eells owned the +control, to sell out for what they could get; and if this was merely a +deep-laid scheme to buy in their stock for almost nothing they would at +least have a little ready cash. + +The Campbells were poor; her father even lacked the money to buy powder +to blast out his road, and so he struggled on, grading up the easy +places and leaving Corkscrew Gorge untouched. That would call for heavy +blasting and crews of hardy men to climb up and shoot down the walls, +and even after that the jagged rock-bed must be covered and leveled to +the semblance of a road. Now nothing but a trail led up through the dark +passageway, where grinding boulders had polished the walls like glass; +and until that gateway was opened Cole Campbell's road was useless; it +might as well be all trail. But with five thousand dollars, or even +less--with whatever she received from her stock--the gateway could be +conquered, her father's dream would come true and all their life would +be changed. + +There would be a road, right past their house, where great trucks would +lumber forth loaded down with ore from their mine, and return ladened +with machinery from the railroad. There would be miners going by and +stopping for a drink, and someone to talk to every day, and the +loneliness which oppressed her like a physical pain would give place to +gaiety and peace. Her father would be happy and stop working so hard, +and her mother would not have to worry--all if she, Wilhelmina, could +just sell her stock and salvage a pittance from the wreck. + +She knew now what Wunpost had meant when he had described the outside +world and the men they would meet at the rush, yet for all his hard-won +knowledge he had gone down once more before Judson Eells and his gang. +But he had spoken true when he said they would resort to murder to gain +possession of their mine, and though he had yielded at last to the lure +of strong drink, in her heart she could not blame him too much. It was +not by wrongdoing that he had wrecked their high hopes, but by signing a +contract long years before without reading what he called the fine +print. He was just a boy, after all, in spite of his boasting and his +vaunted knowledge of the world; and now in his trouble he had come back +to her, to the one person he knew he could trust. She gazed a long time +at the dwindling form till it was lost in the immensity of the plain; +and then she gazed on, for dreams were all she had to comfort her lonely +heart + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BABES IN THE WOODS + + +Ever since David went forth and slew Goliath with his sling, youth has +set its puny lance to strike down giants; and history, making much of +the hotspurs who won, draws a veil over the striplings who were slain. +And yet all who know the stern conditions of life must recognize that +youth is a handicap, and if David had but donned the heavy armor of King +Saul he too would have gone to his death. But instead he stepped forth +untrammeled by its weight, with nothing but a stone and a sling, and +because the scoffing giant refused to raise his shield he was struck +down by the pebble of a child. But giant Judson Eells was in a +baby-killing mood when he invited Wunpost and Wilhelmina to his den; and +when they emerged, after signing articles of incorporation, he licked +his chops and smiled. + +It developed at the meeting that the sole function of a stockholder is +to vote for the Directors of the Company; and, having elected Eells and +Lapham and John C. Calhoun Directors, the stockholders' meeting +adjourned. Reconvening immediately as a, Board of Directors, Judson +Eells was elected President, John C. Calhoun, Vice-President and Phillip +F. Lapham Secretary-treasurer--after which an assessment of ten cents a +share was levied upon all the stock. Exit John C. Calhoun and Wilhelmina +Campbell, stripped of their stock and all faith in mankind. For even if +by some miracle they should raise the necessary sum Judson Eells and +Phillip Lapham would immediately vote a second assessment, and so on, +_ad finitum_. Holding a majority of the stock, Eells could control +the Board of Directors, and through it the policies of the company; and +any assessments which he himself might pay would but be transferred from +one pocket to the other. It was as neat a job of baby-killing as Eells +had ever accomplished, and he slew them both with a smile. + +They had conspired in their innocence to gain stock in the company and +to hawk it about the streets; but neither had thought to suggest the +customary Article: "The stock of said company shall be non-assessable." +The Articles of Incorporation had been drawn up by Phillip F. Lapham; +and yet, after all his hard experiences, Wunpost was so awed by the +legal procedure that he forgot all about the fine print. Not that it +made any difference, they would have trimmed him anyway, but it was +three times in the very same place! He cursed himself out loud for an +ignorant baboon and left Wilhelmina in tears. + +She had come down with her mother, her father being busy, and they had +planned to take in the town; but after this final misfortune Wilhelmina +lost all interest in the busy marts of trade. What to her were clothes +and shoes when she had no money to buy them--and when overdressed women, +none too chaste in their demeanor, stared after her in boorish +amusement? Blackwater had become a great city, but it was not for +her--the empty honor of having the Willie Meena named after her was all +she had won from her mine. John C. Calhoun had been right when he warned +her, long before, that the mining game was more like a dog fight than it +was like a Sunday school picnic; and yet--well, some people made money +at it. Perhaps they were better at reading the fine print, and not so +precipitate about signing Articles of Incorporation, but as far as she +was concerned Wilhelmina made a vow never to trust a lawyer again. + +She returned to the ranch, where the neglected garden soon showed signs +of her changing mood; but after the weeds had been chopped out and +routed she slipped back to her lookout on the hill. It was easier to +tear the weeds from a tangled garden than old memories from her lonely +heart; and she took up, against her will, the old watch for Wunpost, who +had departed from Blackwater in a fury. He had stood on the corner and, +oblivious of her presence, had poured out the vials of his wrath; he had +cursed Eells for a swindler, and Lapham for his dog and Lynch for his +yellow hound. He had challenged them all, either individually or +collectively, to come forth and meet him in battle; and then he had +offered to fight any man in Blackwater who would say a good word for any +of them. But Blackwater looked on in cynical amusement, for Eells was +the making of the town; and when he had given off the worst of his venom +Wunpost had tied up his roll and departed. + +He had left as he had come, a single-blanket tourist, packing his +worldly possessions on his back; and when last seen by Wilhelmina he was +headed east, up the wash that came down from the Panamints. Where he was +going, when he would return, if he ever would return, all were mysteries +to the girl who waited on; and if she watched for him it was because +there was no one else whose coming would stir her heart. Far up the +canyon and over the divide there lived Hungry Bill and his family, but +Hungry was an Indian and when he dropped in it was always to get +something to eat. He had two sons and two daughters, whom he kept +enslaved, forbidding them to even think of marriage; and all his +thoughts were of money and things to eat, for Hungry Bill was an Indian +miser. + +He came through often now with his burros packed with fruit from the +abandoned white-man's ranch that he had occupied; and even his wild-eyed +daughters had more variety than Billy, for they accompanied him to +Blackwater and Willie Meena. There they sold their grapes and peaches at +exorbitant prices and came back with coffee and flour, but neither would +say a word for fear of their old father, who watched them with +intolerant eyes. They were evil, snaky eyes, for it was said that in his +day he had waylaid many a venturesome prospector, and while they gleamed +ingratiatingly when he was presented with food, at no time did they show +good will. He was still a renegade at heart, shunned and avoided by his +own kinsmen, the Shoshones who camped around Wild Rose; but it was from +him, from this old tyrant that she despised so cordially, that +Wilhelmina received her first news of Wunpost. + +Hungry Bill came up grinning, on his way down from his ranch, and fixed +her with his glittering black eyes. + +"You savvy Wunpo?" he asked, "hi-ko man--busca gol'? Him sendum piece of +lock!" + +He produced a piece of rock from a knot in his shirt-tail and handed it +over to her slowly. It was a small chunk of polished quartz, half green, +half turquoise blue; and in the center, like a jewel, a crystal of +yellow gold gleamed out from its matrix of blue. Wilhelmina gazed at it +blankly, then flushed and turned away as she felt Hungry Bill's eyes +upon her. He was a disreputable old wretch, who imputed to others the +base motives which governed his own acts; and when she read his black +heart Wilhelmina straightened up and gave him back the stone. + +"No, you keepum!" protested Hungry. "Hi-ko ketchum plenty mo'." + +But Wilhelmina shook her head. + +"No!" she said, "you give that to my mother. Are those your girls down +there? Well, why don't you let them come up to the house? You no good--I +don't like bad Indians!" + +She turned away from him, still frowning angrily, and strode on down to +the creek; but the daughters of Hungry Bill, in their groveling way, +seemed to share the low ideals of their father. They were tall and +sturdy girls, clad in breezy calico dresses and with their hair down +over their eyes; and as they gazed out from beneath their bangs a guilty +smile contorted their lips, a smile that made Wilhelmina writhe. + +"What's the matter with you?" she snapped, and as the scared look came +back she turned on her heel and left them. What could one expect, of +course, from Hungry Bill's daughters after they had been guarded like +the slave-girls in a harem; but the joy of hearing from Wunpost was +quite lost in the fierce anger which the conduct of his messengers +evoked. He was up there, somewhere, and he had made another strike--the +most beautiful blue quartz in the world--but these renegade Shoshones +with their understanding smiles had quite killed the pleasure of it for +her. She returned to the house where Hungry Bill, in the kitchen, was +wolfing down a great pan of beans; but the sight of the old glutton with +his mouth down to the plate quite sickened her and drove her away. +Wunpost was up in the hills, and he had made a strike, but with that she +must remain content until he either came down himself or chose a more +highminded messenger. + +Hungry Bill went on to Blackwater and came back with a load of supplies, +which he claimed he was taking to "Wunpo"; and, after he had passed up +the canyon, Wilhelmina strolled along behind him. At the mouth of +Corkscrew Gorge there was a great pool of water, overshadowed by a rank +growth of willows through whose tops the wild grapevines ran riot. Here +it had been her custom, during the heat of the day, to paddle along the +shallows or sit and enjoy the cool air. There was always a breeze at the +mouth of Corkscrew Gorge, and when it drew down, as it did on this day, +it carried the odors of dank caverns. In the dark and gloomy depths of +this gash through the hills the rocks were always damp and cold; and +beneath the great waterfalls, where the cloudbursts had scooped out +pot-holes, there was a delicious mist and spray. She dawdled by the +willows, then splashed on up the slippery trail until, above the last +echoing waterfall, she stepped out into the world beyond. + +The great canyon spread out again, once she had passed the waterworn +Gorge, and peak after peak rose up to right and left where yawning side +canyons led in. But all were set on edge and reared up to dizzying +heights; and along their scarred flanks there lay huge slides of shaley +rock, ready to slip at the touch of a hand. Vivid stripes of red and +green, alternating with layers of blue and white, painted the sides of +the striated ridges; and odd seams here and there showed dull yellows +and chocolate browns like the edge of a crumbled layer-cake. Up the +canyon the walls shut in again, and then they opened out, and so on for +nine miles until Old Panamint was reached and the open valley sloped up +to the summit. + +Many a time in the old days when they had lived in Panamint had +Wilhelmina scaled those far heights; the huge white wall of granite +dotted with ball-like pinons and junipers, which fenced them from Death +Valley beyond. It opened up like a gulf, once the summit was reached, +and below the jagged precipices stretched long ridges and fan-like +washes which lost themselves at last in the Sink. For a hundred miles to +the north and the south it lay, a writhing ribbon of white, pinching +down to narrow strips, then broadening out in gleaming marshes; and on +both sides the mountains rose up black and forbidding, a bulwark against +the sky. Wilhelmina had never entered it, she had been content to look +down; and then she crept back to beautiful sheltered Panamint where +father had his mine. + +It was up on the ridge, where the white granite of the summit came into +contact with the burnt limestone and schist; and, of all the rich mines, +the Homestake was the best, until the cloudburst came along and spoiled +all of them. Wilhelmina still remembered how the great flood had passed +the town, moving boulders as if they were pebbles; but not until it +reached the place where she stood had it done irretrievable damage. The +roadbed was washed out, but the streambed remained, and the banks from +which to fill in more dirt; but when the flood struck the Gorge it +backed up into a lake, for the narrow defile was choked. Trees and rocks +and rumbling boulders had piled up against its entrance, holding the +waters back like a dam; and when they broke through they sluiced +everything before them, gouging the canyon down to the bedrock. Now +twelve years had passed by and only a hazardous trail threaded the Gorge +which had once been a highway. + +Wilhelmina gazed up the valley and sighed again, for since that terrific +cloudburst she had been stranded in Jail Canyon like a piece of +driftwood tossed up by the flood. Nothing happened to her, any more than +to the pinon logs which the waters had wedged high above the stream, and +as she returned home down the Gorge she almost wished for another flood, +to float them and herself away. No one came by there any more, the trail +was so poor, and yet her father still clung to the mine; but a flood +would either fill up the Gorge with debris or make even him give up +hope. She sank down by the cool pool and put her feet in the water, +dabbling them about like a wilful child; but at a shout from below she +rose up a grown woman, for she knew it was Dusty Rhodes. + +He came on up the creekbed with his burros on the trot, hurling clubs at +the laggards as he ran; and when they stopped short at the sight of +Wilhelmina he almost rushed them over her. But a burro is a creature of +lively imagination, to whom the unknown is always terrible; and at a +fresh outburst from Dusty the whole outfit took to the brush, leaving +him face to face with his erstwhile partner. + +"Oh, hello, hello!" he called out gruffly. "Say, did Hungry Bill go +through here? He was jest down to Blackwater, buying some grub at the +store, and he paid for it with rock that was _half gold_! So git +out of the road, my little girl--I'm going up to prospect them hills!" + +"Don't you call me your little girl!" called back Billy angrily. "And +Hungry Bill hasn't got any mine!" + +"Oh, he ain't, hey?" mocked Dusty, leaving his burros to browse while he +strode triumphantly up to her. "Then jest look at _that_, my--my +fine young lady! I got it from the store-keeper myself!" + +He handed her a piece of green and blue quartz, but she only glanced at +it languidly. The memory of his perfidy on a previous occasion made her +long to puncture his pride, and she passed the gold ore back to him. + +"I've seen that before," she said with a sniff, "so you can stop driving +those burros so hard. It came from Wunpost's mine." + +"Wunpost!" yelled Dusty Rhodes, his eyes getting big; and then he spat +out an oath. "Who told ye?" he demanded, sticking his face into hers, +and she stepped away disdainfully. + +"Hungry Bill," she said, and watched him writhe as the bitter truth went +home. "You think you're so smart," she taunted at last, "why don't you +go out and find one for yourself? I suppose you want to rush in and +claim a half interest in his strike and then sell out to old Eells. I +hope he kills you, if you try to do it--_I_ would, if I were him. +What'd you do with that five thousand dollars?" + +"Eh--eh--that's none of your business," bleated Dusty Rhodes, whose trip +to Los Angeles had proved disastrous. "And if Wunpost gave Hungry that +sack of ore he stole it from some other feller's mine. I knowed all +along he'd locate that Black P'int if I ever let him stop--I've had my +eye on it for years--and that's why I hurried by. I discovered it +myself, only I never told nobody--he must have heard me talking in my +sleep!" + +"Yes, or when you were drunk!" suggested Wilhelmina maliciously. "I hear +you got robbed in Los Angeles. And anyhow I'm glad, because you stole +that five thousand dollars, and no good ever came from stolen property." + +"Oh, it didn't, hey?" sneered Dusty, who was recovering his poise, +"well, I'll bet ye _this_ rock was stolen! And if that's the case, +where does your young man git off, that you think the world and all of? +But you've got to show me that he ever _saw_ this rock--I believe +old Hungry was lying to you!" + +"Well, don't let me keep you!" cried Billy, bowing mockingly. "Go on +over and ask him yourself--but I'll bet you don't _dare_ to meet +Wunpost!" + +"How come Hungry to tell you?" burst out Dusty Rhodes at last, and +Wilhelmina smiled mysteriously. + +"That's none of your business, my busy little man," she mimicked in +patronizing tones, "but I've got a piece of that rock right up at the +house. You go back there and mother will show it to you." + +"I'm going on!" answered Dusty with instant decision; "can't stop to +make no visit today. They's a big rush coming--every burro-man in +Blackwater--and some of them are legging it afoot. But that thieving son +of a goat, _he_ never found no mine! I know it--it can't be +possible!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A NEW DEAL + + +The rush of burro-men to Hungry Bill's ranch followed close in Dusty +Rhodes' wake, and some there were who came on foot; but they soon came +stringing back, for it was a fine, large country and Hungry Bill was +about as communicative as a rattlesnake. All he knew, or cared to know, +was the price of corn and fruit, which he sold at Blackwater prices; and +the search for Wunpost had only served to show to what lengths a man +will go for revenge. In some mysterious way Wunpost had acquired a horse +and mule, both sharp-shod for climbing over rocks, and he had dallied at +Hungry Bill's until the first of the stampeders had come in sight on the +Panamint trail. Then he had set out up the ridge, riding the horse and +packing the mule, and even an Indian trailer had given out and quit +without ever bringing them in sight of him again. He had led them such a +chase that the hardiest came back satisfied, and they agreed that he +could keep his old mine. + +The excitement died away or was diverted to other channels, for +Blackwater was having a boom; and, just as Wilhelmina had given up hope +of seeing him, John C. Calhoun came riding down the ridge. Not down the +canyon, where the trail made riding easy, but down the steep ridge +trail, where a band of mountain sheep was accustomed to come for water. +Wilhelmina was in her tunnel, looking down with envious eyes at the +traffic in the valley below; and he came upon her suddenly, so suddenly +it made her jump, for no one ever rode up there. + +"Hello!" he hailed, spurring his horse up to the portal and letting out +his rope as he entered. "Kinder hot, out there in the sun. Well, how's +tricks?" he inquired, sitting down in the shade and wiping the streaming +sweat from his eyes. "Hungry Bill says you s-spurned my gold!" + +"What did you tell that old Indian?" burst out Wilhelmina wrathfully, +and Wunpost looked up in surprise. + +"Why, nothing," he said, "only to get me some grub and give you that +piece of polished rock. How was that for the real old high grade? From +my new mine, up in the high country. What's the matter--did Hungry get +gay?" + +"Well--not that," hesitated Wilhelmina, "but he looked at me so funny +that I told him to give it to Mother. What was it you told him about +me?" + +"Not a thing," protested Wunpost, "just to give you the rock. Oh, I +know!" He laughed and slapped his leg. "He's scared some prospector will +steal one of them gals, and I told him not to worry about me. Guess that +gave him a tip, because he looked wise as a prairie dog when I told him +to give that specimen to you." He paused and knocked the dust out of his +battered old hat, then glanced up from under his eyebrows. + +"Ain't mad, are you?" he asked, "because if you are I'm on my way----" + +"Oh, no!" she answered quickly. "Where have you been all the time? Dusty +Rhodes came through here, looking for you." + +"Yes, they all came," he grinned, "but I showed 'em some sheep-trails +before they got tired of chasing me. I knew for a certainty that those +mugs would follow Hungry--they did the same thing over in Nevada. I sent +in an Indian to buy me a little grub and they trailed me clean across +Death Valley. Guess that ore must have looked pretty good." + +"Where'd you get it?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes roguishly while +a crafty smile lit up his face. + +"That's a question," he said. "If I'd tell you, you'd have the answer. +But I'm not going to show it to _nobody_!" + +"Well, you don't need to think that _I_ care!" she spoke up +resentfully, "nobody asked you to show them your gold. And after what +happened with the Willie Meena I wouldn't take your old mine for a +gift." + +"You won't have to," he replied. "I've quit taking in pardners--it's a +lone hand for me, after this. I'm sure slow in the head, but I reckon +I've learned my lesson--never go up against the other man's game. Old +Eells is a lawyer and I tried to beat him at law. We've switched the +deal now and he can play _my_ game a while--hide-and-seek, up in +them high peaks." + +He waved his hand in the direction of the Panamints and winked at her +exultantly. + +"Look at _that_!" he said, and drew a rock from his shirt pocket +which was caked and studded with gold. It was more like a chunk of gold +with a little quartz attached to it, and as she exclaimed he leaned back +and gloated. "I've got worlds of it!" he declared. "Let 'em get out and +rustle for it--that's the way I made my start. By the time they've rode +as far as I have they'll know she's a mountain sheep country. I located +two mines right smack beside the trail and these jaspers came along and +stole them both. All right! Fine! Fine! Let 'em look for the old +Sockdolager where I got this gold, and the first man that finds it can +have it! I'm a sport--I haven't even staked it!" + +"And can _I_ have it?" asked Billy, her eyes beginning to glow, +"because, oh, we need money so bad!" + +"What for, kid?" inquired Wunpost with a fatherly smile. "Ain't you got +a good home, and everything?" + +"Yes, but the road--Father's road. If I just had the money we'd start +right in on it tomorrow." + +"Hoo! I'll build you the road!" declared Wunpost munificently. "And it +won't cost either one of us a cent. Don't believe it, eh? You think this +is bunk? Then I'll tell you, kid, what I'll do. I'll make you a bet +we'll have a wagon-road up that canyon before three months are up. And +all by head-work, mind ye--not a dollar of our own money--might even get +old Eells to build it. Yes, I'm serious; I've got a new system--been +thinking it out, up in the hills--and just to show you how brainy I am +I'll make this demonstration for nothing. You don't need to bet me +anything, just acknowledge that I'm the king when it comes to the real +inside work; and before I get through I'll have Judson Eells belly up +and gasping for air like a fish. I'm going to trim him, the big fat +slob; I'm going to give him a lesson that'll learn him to lay off of me +for life; I'm going to make him so scared he'll step down into the +gutter when he meets me coming down the sidewalk. Well, laugh, doggone +it, but you watch my dust--I'm going to hang his hide on the fence!" + +"That's what you told me before," she reminded him mischievously, "but +somehow it didn't work out." + +"It'll work out this time," he retorted grimly. "A man has got to learn. +I'm just a kid, I know that, and I'm not much on book learning, but +don't you never say I can't _think_! Maybe I can't beat them crooks +when I play their own game, but this time _I deal the hand_! Do you +git me? We've switched the deal! And if I don't ring in a cold deck and +deal from the bottom it won't be because it's _wrong_. I'm out to +scalp 'em, see, and just to convince you we'll begin by building that +road. Your old man is wrong, he don't need no road and it won't do him +any good when he gets it; but just to make you happy and show you how +much I think of you, I'll do it--only you've got to stand pat! No Sunday +school stuff, see? We're going to fight this out with hay hooks, and +when I come back with his hair don't blame me if old Eells makes a roar. +I'm going to stick him, see; and I'm not going to stick him once--I'm +going to stick him three times, till he squeals like a pig, because +that's what he did to me! He cleaned me once on the Wunpost, and twice +on the Willie Meena, but before I get through with him he'll knock a +corner off the mountain every time he sees my dust. He'll be +_gone_, you understand--it'll be moving day for him--but I'll chase +him to the hottest stope in hell. I'm going to bust him, savvy, just to +learn these other dastards not to start any rough stuff with me. And now +the road, the road! We'll just get him to build it--I've got it all +framed up!" + +He made a bluff to kiss her, then ran out and mounted his horse and went +rollicking off towards Blackwater. Wilhelmina brushed her cheek and +gazed angrily after him, then smiled and turned away with a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHORT SPORTS + + +The booming mining camp of Blackwater stood under the rim of a high +mesa, between it and an alkali flat, and as Wunpost rode in he looked it +over critically, though with none too friendly eyes. Being laid out in a +land of magnificent distances, there was plenty of room between the +houses, and the broad main street seemed more suited for driving cattle +than for accommodating the scant local traffic. There had been a time +when all that space was needed to give swing-room to twenty-mule teams, +but that time was past and the two sparse rows of houses seemed dwarfed +and pitifully few. Yet there were new ones going up, and quite a +sprinkling of tents; and down on the corner Wunpost saw a big building +which he knew must be Judson Eells' bank. + +It had sprung up in his absence, a pretentious structure of solid +concrete, and as he jogged along past it Wunpost swung his head and +looked it over scornfully. The walls were thick and strong, but that was +no great credit, for in that desert country any man who would get water +could mix concrete until he was tired. All in the world he had to do was +to scoop up the ground and pour the mud into the molds, and when it was +set he had a natural concrete, composed of lime and coarse gravel and +bone-dry dust. Half the burro-corrals in Blackwater were built out of +concrete, but Eells had put up a big false front. This had run into +money, the ornately stamped tin-work having been shipped all the way +from Los Angeles; and there were two plate-glass windows that framed a +passing view of marble pillars and shining brass grilles. Wunpost took +it all in and then hissed through his teeth--the money that had built it +was his! + +"I'll skin him!" he muttered, and pulled up down the street before Old +Whiskers' populous saloon. Several men drifted out to speak to him as he +tied his horse and pack, but he greeted them all with such a venomous +glare that they shied off and went across the street. There there stood +a rival saloon, rushed up in Wunpost's absence; but after looking it +over he went into Whiskers' Place, which immediately began to fill up. +The coming of Wunpost had been noted from afar, and a man who buys his +grub with jewelry gold-specimens is sure to have a following. He +slouched in sulkily and gazed at Old Whiskers, who was chewing on his +tobacco like a ruminative billygoat and pretending to polish the bar. It +was borne in on Whiskers that he had refused Wunpost a drink on the day +he had walked out of camp, but he was hoping that the slight was +forgotten; for if he could keep him in his saloon all the others would +soon be vacated, now that Wunpost was the talk of the town. He had found +one mine and lost it and gone out and found another one while the rest +of them were wearing out shoe-leather; and a man like that could not be +ignored by the community, no matter if he did curse their town. So +Whiskers chewed on, not daring to claim his friendship, and Wunpost +leaned against the bar. + +"Gimme a drink," he said laying fifteen cents before him; and as several +men moved forward he scowled at them in silence and tossed off his +_solamente_. "Cr-ripes!" he shuddered, "did you make that +yourself?" And when Whiskers, caught unawares, half acquiesced, Wunpost +drew himself up and burst forth. "I believe it!" he announced with an +oracular nod, "I can taste the burnt sugar, the fusel oil, the wood +alcohol and everything. One drink of that stuff would strike a stone +Injun blind if it wasn't for this dry desert air. They tell me, +Whiskers, that when you came to this town you brought one barrel of +whiskey with you--and that you ain't ordered another one since. That +stuff is all right for those that like it--I'm going across the street." + +He strode out the door, taking the fickle crowd with him and leaving Old +Whiskers to chew the cud of brooding bitterness. In the saloon across +the street a city barkeeper greeted Wunpost affably, and inquired what +it would be. Wunpost asked for a drink and the discerning barkeeper set +out a bottle with the seal uncut. It was bonded goods, guaranteed seven +years in the wood, and Wunpost smacked his lips as he tasted it. + +"Have one yourself," he suggested and while the crowd stood agape he +laid down a nugget of gold. + +That settled it with Blackwater, they threw their money on the bar and +tried to get him drunk, but Wunpost would drink with none of them. + +"No, you bunch of bootlickers!" he shouted angrily, "go on away, I won't +have nothing to do with you! When I was broke you wouldn't treat me and +now that I'm flush I reckon I can buy my own liquor. You're all sucking +around old Eells, saying he made the town--I made your danged town +myself! Didn't I discover the Willie Meena--and ain't that what made the +town? Well, go chase yourselves, you suckers, I'm through with ye! You +did me dirt when you thought I was cleaned and now you can all go to +blazes!" + +He shook hands with the friendly barkeeper, told him to keep the change, +and fought his way out to the street. The crowd of boomers, still +refusing to be insulted, trooped shamelessly along in his wake; and when +he unpacked his mule and took out two heavy, heavy ore-sacks even Judson +Eells cast aside his dignity. He had looked on from afar, standing in +front of the plate-glass window which had "Willie Meena Mining Company" +across it; but at a signal from Lynch, who had been acting as his +lookout, he came running to demand his rights. The acquisition of The +Wunpost and The Willie Meena properties had by no means satisfied his +lust; and since this one crazy prospector--who of all men he had +grubstaked seemed the only one who could find a mine--had for the third +time come in with rich ore, he felt no compunctions about claiming his +share. + +"Where'd you get that ore?" he demanded of Wunpost as the crowd opened +up before him and Wunpost glanced at him fleeringly. + +"I stole it!" he said and went on sorting out specimens which he stuffed +into his well-worn overalls. + +"I asked you _where_!" returned Eells, drawing his lip up sternly, +and Wunpost turned to the crowd. + +"You see?" he jeered, "I told you he was crooked. He wants to go and +steal some himself." He laughed, long and loud, and some there were who +joined in with him, for Eells was not without his enemies. To be sure he +had built the bank, and established his offices in Blackwater when he +might have started a new town at the mine; but no moneylender was ever +universally popular and Eells was ruthless in exacting his usury. But on +the other hand he had brought a world of money in to town, for the +Willie Meena had paid from the first; and it was his pay-roll and the +wealth which had followed in his wake that had made the camp what it +was; so no one laughed as long or as loud as John C. Calhoun and he +hunched his shoulders and quit. + +"Never you mind where I stole it!" he said to Eells, "I stole it, and +that's enough. Is there anything in your contract that gives you a cut +on everything I _steal_?" + +"Why--why, no," replied Eells, "but that isn't the point--I asked you +where you got it. If it's stolen, that's one thing, but if you've +located another mine----" + +"I haven't!" put in Wunpost, "you've broke me of that. The only way I +can keep anything now is to steal it. Because, no matter what it is, if +I come by it honestly, you and your rabbit-faced lawyer will grab it; +but if I go out and steal it you don't dare to claim half, because that +would make you out a thief. And of course a banker, and a big mining +magnate, and the owner of the famous Willie Meena--well, it just isn't +done, that's all." + +He twisted up his lips in a wry, sarcastic smile but Eells was not +susceptible to irony. He was the bulldog type of man, the kind that +takes hold and hangs on, and he could see that the ore was rich. It was +so rich indeed that in those two sacks alone there were undoubtedly +several thousand dollars--and the mine itself might be worth millions. +Eells turned and beckoned to Phillip F. Lapham, who was looking on with +greedy eyes. They consulted together while Wunpost waited calmly, though +with the battle light in his eyes, and at last Eells returned to the +charge. + +"Mr. Calhoun," he said, "there's no use to pretend that this ore which +you have is stolen. We have seen samples of it before and it is very +unusual--in fact, no one has seen anything like it. Therefore your claim +that it is stolen is a palpable pretense, to deprive me of my rights +under our constitution. + +"Yes?" prompted Wunpost, dropping his hand on his pistol, and Eells +paused and glanced at Lapham. + +"Well," he conceded, "of course I can't prove anything and----" + +"No, you bet you can't prove anything," spoke up Wunpost defiantly, "and +you can't touch an ounce of my ore. It's mine and I stole it and no +court can make me show where; because a man can't be compelled to +incriminate himself--and if I showed you they could come out and pinch +me. Huh! You've got a lawyer, have you? Well, I've got one myself and I +know my legal rights and if any man puts out his hand to take away this +bag, I've got a right to shoot him dead! Ain't that right now, Mr. Flip +Flappum?" + +"Well--the law gives one the right to defend his own property; but only +with sufficient force to resist the attack, and to shoot would be +excessive." + +"Not with me!" asserted Wunpost, "I've consulted one of the best lawyers +in Nevada and I'm posted on every detail. There's Pisen-face Lynch, that +everybody knows is a gun-man in the employ of Judson Eells, and at the +first crooked move I'd be justified in killing him and then in killing +you and Eells. Oh, I'll law you, you dastards, I'll law you with a +six-shooter--and I've got an attorney all hired to defend me. We've +agreed on his fee and I've got it all buried where he can go get it when +I give him the directions; and I hope he gets it soon because then +there'll be just three less grafters, to rob honest prospectors of their +rights." + +He advanced upon Lapham, his great head thrust out as he followed his +squirming flight through the crowd; and when he was gone he turned upon +Eells who stood his ground with insolent courage. + +"And you, you big slob," he went on threateningly, "you don't need to +think you'll git off. I ain't afraid of your gun-man, and I ain't afraid +of you, and before we get through I'm going to _git_ you. Well, +laugh if you want to--it's your scalp or mine--and you can jest politely +go to hell." + +He snapped his fingers in his face and, taking a sack in both hands, +started off to the Wells Fargo office; and, so intimidated for once were +Eells and his gun-fighter, that neither one followed along after him. +Wunpost deposited his treasure in the Express Company's safe and went +off to care for his animals and, while the crowd dispersed to the +several saloons, Eells and Lapham went into conference. This sudden glib +quoting of moot points of law was a new and disturbing factor, and +Lapham himself was quite unstrung over the news of the buried retainer. +It had all the earmarks of a criminal lawyer's work, this tender +solicitude for his fee; and some shysters that Lapham knew would even +encourage their client to violence, if it would bring them any nearer to +the gold. But this gold--where did it come from? Could it possibly be +high-graded, in spite of all the testimony to the contrary? And if not, +if his claim that it was stolen was a blind, then how could they +discover its whereabouts? Certainly not by force of law, and not by any +violence--they must resort to guile, the old cunning of the serpent, +which now differentiates man from the beasts of the field, and perhaps +they could get Wunpost drunk! + +Happy thought! The wires were laid and all Blackwater joined in with +them, in fact it was the universal idea, and even the new barkeeper with +whom Wunpost had struck up an acquaintance had promised to do his part. +To get Wunpost drunk and then to make him boast, to pique him by +professed doubts of his great find; and then when he spilled it, as he +had always done before, the wild rush and another great boom! They +watched his every move as he put his animals in a corral and stored his +packs and saddles; and when, in the evening, he drifted back to The +Mint, man after man tried to buy him a drink. But Wunpost was +antisocial, he would have none of their whiskey and their canting +professions of friendship; only Ben Fellowes, the new barkeeper, was +good enough for his society and he joined him in several libations. It +was all case goods, very soft and smooth and velvety, and yet in a +remarkably short space of time Wunpost was observed to be getting +garrulous. + +"I'll tell you, pardner," he said taking the barkeeper by the arm and +speaking very confidently into his ear, "I'll tell you, it's this way +with me. I'm a Calhoun, see--John C. Calhoun is my name, and I come from +the state of Kentucky--and a Kentucky Calhoun never forgets a friend, +and he never forgets an enemy. I'm burned out on this town--don't like +it--nothing about it--but you, now, you're different, you never done me +any injury. You're my friend, ain't that right, you're my friend!" + +The barkeeper reassured him and held his breath while he poured out +another drink and then, as Wunpost renewed his protestations, Fellowes +thanked him for his present of the nugget. + +"What--_that_?" exclaimed Wunpost brushing the piece of gold aside, +"that's nothing--here, give you a good one!" He drew out a chunk of rock +fairly encrusted with gold and forced it roughly upon him. "It's +nothing!" he said, "lots more where that came from. Got system, +see--know how to find it. All these water-hole prospectors, they never +find nothing--too lazy, won't get out and hunt. I head for the high +places--leap from crag to crag, see, like mountain sheep--come back with +my pockets full of gold. These bums are no good--I could take 'em out +tonight and lead 'em to my mine and they'd never be able to go back. +Rough country 'n all that--no trails, steep as the devil--take 'em out +there and lose 'em, every time. Take you out and lose you--now say, +you're my friend, I'll tell you what I'll do." + +He stopped with portentous dignity and poured out another drink and the +barkeeper frowned a hanger-on away. + +"I'll take you out there," went on Wunpost, "and show you my mine--show +you the place where I get all this gold. You can pick up all you want, +and when we get back you give me a thousand dollar bill. That's all I +ask is a thousand dollar bill--like to have one to flash on the +boys--and then we'll go to Los and blow the whole pile--by grab, I'm a +high-roller, right. I'm a good feller, see, as long as you're my friend, +but don't tip off this place to old Eells. Have to kill you if you +do--he's bad actor--robbed me twice. What's matter--ain't you got the +dollar bill?" + +"You said a thousand dollars!" spoke up the barkeeper breathlessly. + +"Well, thousand dollar bill, then. Ain't you got it--what's the matter? +Aw, gimme another drink--you're nothing but a bunch of short sports." + +He shook his head and sighed and as the barkeeper began to sweat he +caught the hanger-on's eye. It was Pisen-face Lynch and he was winking +at him fiercely, meanwhile tapping his own pocket significantly. + +"I can get it," ventured the barkeeper but Wunpost ignored him. + +"You're all short sports," he asserted drunkenly, waving his hand +insultingly at the crowd. "You're cheap guys--you can't bear to lose." + +"Hey!" broke in the barkeeper, "I said I'd take you up. I'll get the +thousand dollars, all right." + +"Oh, you will, eh?" murmured Wunpost and then he shook himself together. +"Oh--sure! Yes, all right! Come on, we'll start right now!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE STINGING LIZARD + + +In a certain stratum of society, now about to become extinct, it is +considered quite _au fait_ to roll a drunk if circumstances will +permit. And it was from this particular stratum that the barkeeper at +The Mint had derived his moral concepts. Therefore he considered it no +crime, no betrayal of a trust, to borrow the thousand dollars with which +he was to pay John C. Calhoun from that prince of opportunists, Judson +Eells. It is not every banker that will thrust a thousand dollar +bill--and the only one he has on hand--upon a member of the +bungstarters' brotherhood; but a word in his ear from Pisen-face Lynch +convinced Fellowes that it would be well to run straight. Fate had +snatched him from behind the bar to carry out a part not unconnected +with certain schemes of Judson Eells and any tendency to run out on his +trusting backers would be visited with summary punishment. At least that +was what he gathered in the brief moment they had together before Lynch +gave him the money and disappeared. + +As for John C. Calhoun, a close student of inebriety might have noticed +that he became sober too quick; but he invested their departure in such +a wealth of mystery that the barkeeper was more than satisfied. A short +ways out of town Wunpost turned out into the rocks and milled around for +an hour; and then, when their trail was hopelessly lost, he led the way +into the hills. Being a stranger in the country Fellowes could not say +what wash it was, but they passed up _some_ wash and from that into +another one; and so on until he was lost; and the most he could do was +to drop a few white beans from the pocketful that Lynch had provided. +The night was very dark and they rode on interminably, camping at dawn +in a shut-in canyon; and so on for three nights until his mind became a +blank as far as direction was concerned. His liberal supply of beans had +been exhausted the first night and since then they had passed over a +hundred rocky hog-backs and down a thousand boulder-strewn canyons. As +to the whereabouts of Blackwater he had no more idea than a cat that has +been carried in a bag; and he lacked that intimate sense of direction +which often enables the cat to come back. He was lost, and a little +scared, when Wunpost stopped in a gulch and showed him a neat pile of +rocks. + +"There's my monument," he said, "ain't that a neat piece of work? I +learned how to make them from a surveyor. This tobacco can here contains +my notice of location--that was a steer when I said it wasn't staked. +Git down and help yourself!" + +He assisted his companion, who was slightly saddle-sore, to alight and +inspect the monument and then he waited expectantly. + +"Oh, the mine! The mine!" cried Wunpost gaily. "Come along--have you got +your sack? Well, bring along a sack and we'll fill it so full of gold +it'll bust and spill out going home. Be a nice way to mark the trail, if +you should want to come back sometime--and by the way, have you got that +thousand dollar bill?" + +"Yes, I've got it," whined the barkeeper, "but where's your cussed mine? +This don't look like nothing to me!" + +"No, that's it," expounded Wunpost, "you haven't got my system--they's +no use for you to turn prospector. Now look in this crack--notice that +stuff up and down there? Well, now, that's where I'd look to find gold." + +"Jee-rusalem!" exclaimed the barkeeper, or words to that effect, and +dropped down to dig out the rock. It was the very same ore that Wunpost +had shown when he had entered The Mint at Blackwater, only some of it +was actually richer than any of the pieces he had seen. And there was a +six-inch streak of it, running down into the country-rock as if it were +going to China. He dug and dug again while Wunpost, all unmindful, +unpacked and cooked a good meal. Fellowes filled his small sack and all +his pockets and wrapped up the rest in his handkerchief; and before they +packed to go he borrowed the dish-towel and went back for a last hoard +of gold. It was there for the taking, and he could have all he wanted as +long as he turned over the thousand dollar bill. Wunpost was insistent +upon this and as they prepared to start he accepted it as payment in +full. + +"That's _my_ idea of money!" he exclaimed admiringly as he smoothed +the silken note across his knee. "A thousand dollar bill, and you could +hide it inside your ear--say, wait till I pull that in Los! I'll walk up +to the bar in my old, raggedy clothes and if the barkeep makes any +cracks about paying in advance I'll just drop _that_ down on the +mahogany. That'll learn him, by grab, to keep a civil tongue in his head +and to say Mister when he's speaking to a gentleman." + +He grinned at the Judas that he had taken to his bosom but Fellowes did +not respond. He was haunted by a fear that the simple-minded Wunpost +might ask him where he got that big bill, since it is rather out of the +ordinary for even a barkeeper to have that much money in his clothes; +but the simple-minded Wunpost was playing a game of his own and he asked +no embarrassing questions. It was taken for granted that they were both +gentlemen of integrity, each playing his own system to win, and the +barkeeper's nervous fear that the joker would pop up somewhere found no +justification in fact. He had his gold, all he could carry of it, and +Wunpost had his thousand dollar bill, and now nothing remained to hope +for but a quick trip home and a speedy deliverance from his misery. + +"Say, for cripes' sake," he wailed, "ain't they any short-cut home? I'm +so lame I can hardly walk." + +"Well, there is," admitted Wunpost, "I could have you home by morning. +But you might take to dropping that gold, like you did them Boston +beans, and I'd come back to find my mine jumped." + +"Oh, I won't drop no gold!" protested Fellowes earnestly, "and them +beans was just for a joke. Always read about it, you know, in these here +lost treasure stories; but shucks, I didn't mean no harm!" + +"No," nodded Wunpost, "if I'd thought you did I'd have ditched you, back +there in the rocks. But I'll tell you what I _will_ do--you let me +keep you blindfolded and I'll get you out of here quick." + +"You're on!" agreed Fellowes and Wunpost whipped out his handkerchief +and bound it across his whole face. They rode on interminably, but it +was always down hill and the sagacious Mr. Fellowes even noted a deep +gorge through which water was rushing in a torrent. Shortly after they +passed through it he heard a rooster crow and caught the fragrance of +hay and not long after that they were out on the level where he could +smell the rank odor of the creosote. Just at daylight they rode into +Blackwater from the south, for Wunpost was still playing the game, and +half an hour later every prospector was out, ostensibly hunting for his +burros. But Wunpost's work was done, he turned his animals into the +corral and retired for some much-needed sleep; and when he awoke the +barkeeper was gone, along with everybody else in town. + +The stampede was to the north and then up Jail Canyon, where there was +the only hay ranch for miles; and then up the gorge and on almost to +Panamint, where the tracks turned off up Woodpecker Canyon. They were +back-tracking of course, for the tracks really came down it, but before +the sun had set Wunpost's monument was discovered, together with the +vein of gold. It was astounding, incredible, after all his early +efforts, that he should let them back-track him to his mine; but that +was what he had done and Pisen-face Lynch was not slow to take +possession of the treasure. There was no looting of the paystreak as +there had been at the Willie Meena, a guard was put over it forthwith; +and after he had taken a few samples from the vein Lynch returned on the +gallop to Blackwater. + +The great question now with Eells was how Wunpost would take it, but +after hearing from his scouts that the prospector was calm he summoned +him to his office. It seemed too good to be true, but so it had seemed +before when Calhoun had given up the Wunpost and the Willie Meena; and +when Lynch brought him in Eells was more than pleased to see that his +victim was almost smiling. + +"Well, followed me up again, eh?" he observed sententiously, and Eells +inclined his head. + +"Yes," he said, "Mr. Lynch followed your trail and--well, we have +already taken possession of the mine." + +"Under the contract?" inquired Wunpost and when Eells assented Wunpost +shut his lips down grimly. "Good!" he said, "now I've got you where I +want you. We're partners, ain't that it, under our contract? And you +don't give a whoop for justice or nothing as long as you get it +_all_! Well, you'll get it, Mr. Eells--do you recognize this +thousand dollar bill? That was given to me by a barkeep named Fellowes, +but of course he received it from you. I knowed where he got it, and I +knowed what he was up to--I ain't quite as easy as I look--and now I'm +going to take it and give it to a lawyer, and start in to get my rights. +Yes, I've got some rights, too--never thought of that, did ye--and I'm +going to demand 'em _all_! I'm going to go to this lawyer and put +this bill in his hand and tell him to git me my _rights_! Not part +of 'em, not nine tenths of 'em--I want 'em _all_--and by grab, I'm +going to _get_ 'em!" + +He struck the mahogany table a resounding whack and Eells jumped and +glanced warningly at Lynch. + +"I'm going to call for a receiver, or whatever you call him, to look +after my interests at the mine; and if the judge won't appoint him I'm +going to have you summoned to bring the Wunpost books into court. And +I'm going to prove by those books that you robbed me of my interest and +never made any proper accounting; and then, by grab, he'll _have_ +to appoint him, and I'll get all that's coming to me, and you'll get +what's coming to _you_. You'll be shown up for what you are, a +low-down, sneaking thief that would steal the pennies from a blind man; +you'll be showed up right, you and your sure-thing contract, and you'll +get a little _publicity_! I'll just give this to the press, along +with some four-bit cigars and the drinks all around for the boys, and +we'll just see where you stand when you get your next rating from +Bradstreet--I'll put your tin-front bank on the bum! And then I'll say +to my lawyer, and he's a slippery son-of-a-goat: 'Go to it and see how +much you can get--and for every dollar you collect, by hook, crook or +book, I'll give you back a half of it! Sue Eells for an accounting every +time he ships a brick--make him pay back what he stole on the +Wunpost--give him fits over the Willie Meena--and if a half ain't +enough, send him broke and you can have it _all_! Do you reckon +I'll get some results?" + +He asked this last softly, bowing his bristling head to where he could +look Judson Eells in the eye, and the oppressor of the poor took +counsel. Undoubtedly he _would_ get certain results, some of which +were very unpleasant to contemplate, but behind it all he felt something +yet to come, some counter-proposal involving peace. For no man starts +out by laying his cards on the table unless he has an ace in the +hole--or unless he is running a bluff. And he knew, and Wunpost knew, +that the thing which irked him most was that sure-fire Prospector's +Contract. There Eells had the high card and if he played his hand well +he might tame this impassioned young orator. His lawyer was not yet +retained, none of the suits had been brought, and perhaps they never +would be brought. Yet undoubtedly Wunpost had consulted some attorney. + +"Why--yes," admitted Eells, "I'm quite sure you'd get results--but +whether they would be the results you anticipate is quite another +question. I have a lawyer of my own, quite a competent man and one in +whom I can trust, and if it comes to a suit there's one thing you +_can't_ break and that is your Prospector's Contract." + +He paused and over Wunpost's scowling face there flashed a twinge that +betrayed him--Judson Eells had read his inner thought. + +"Well, anyhow," he blustered, "I'll deal you so much misery----" + +"Not necessary, not necessary," put in Judson Eells mildly, "I'm willing +to meet you half way. What is it you want now, and if it's anything +reasonable I'll be glad to consider a settlement. Litigation is +expensive--it takes time and it takes money--and I'm willing to do what +is right." + +"Well, gimme back that contract!" blurted out Wunpost desperately, "and +you can keep your doggoned mine. But if you don't by grab I'll fight +you!" + +"No, I can't do that," replied Eells regretfully, "and I'll tell you, +Mr. Calhoun, why. You're just one of forty-odd men that have signed +those Prospector's Contracts, and there's a certain principle involved. +I paid out thirty thousand dollars before I got back a nickel and I +can't afford to establish a precedent. If I let you buy out, they will +all want to buy out--that is, if they've happened to find a mine--and +the result will be that there'll be trouble and litigation every time I +claim my rights. When you were wasting my grubstake I never said a word, +because that, in a way, was your privilege; and now that, for some +reason, you are stumbling onto mines, you ought to recognize my rights. +It is a part of my policy, as laid down from the first, under no +circumstances to ever release anybody; otherwise some dishonest +prospector might be tempted to conceal his find in the hope of getting +title to it later. But now about this mine, which you have named The +Stinging Lizard--what would be your top price for cash?" + +"I want that contract," returned Wunpost doggedly but Judson Eells shook +his head. + +"How about ten thousand dollars?" suggested Eells at last, "for a +quit-claim on the Stinging Lizard Mine?" + +"Nothing doing!" flashed back Wunpost, "I don't sign no quit-claim--nor +no other paper, for that matter. You might have it treated with +invisible ink, or write something else in, up above. But--aw cripes, +dang these lawyers, I don't want to monkey around--gimme a hundred +thousand dollars and she's yours." + +"The Stinging Lizard?" inquired Eells and wrote it absently on his +blotter at which Wunpost began to sweat. + +"I don't _sign_ nothing!" he reminded him, and Eells smiled +indulgently. + +"Very well, you can acknowledge it before witnesses." + +"No, I don't acknowledge nothing!" insisted Wunpost stubbornly, "and +you've got to put the money in my hand. How about fifty thousand dollars +and make it all cash, and I'll agree to get out of town." + +"No-o, I haven't that much on hand at this time," observed Judson Eells, +frowning thoughtfully. "I might give you a draft on Los Angeles." + +"No--cash!" challenged Wunpost, "how much have you got? Count it over +and make me an offer--I want to get out of this town." He muttered +uneasily and paced up and down while Judson Eells, with ponderous +surety, opened up the chilled steel vault. He ran through bundles and +neat packages, totting up as he went, and then with a face as frozen as +a stone he came out with the currency in his hands. + +"I've got twenty thousand dollars that I suppose I can spare," he began +as he spread out the money, but Wunpost cut him short. + +"I'll take it," he said, "and you can have the Stinging Lizard--but my +word's all the quit claim you get!" + +He stuffed the money into his pockets without stopping to count it, more +like a burglar than a seller of mines, and that night while the town +gathered to gaze on in wonder he took the stage for Los Angeles. No one +shouted good-by and he did not look back, but as they pulled out of +Blackwater he smiled. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BACK HOME + + +The dry heat of July gave way to the muggy heat of August and as the +September storms began to gather along the summits Wunpost Calhoun +returned to his own. It was his own country, after all, this land of +desert spaces and jagged mountains reared up again the sky; and he came +back in style, riding a big, round-bellied mule and leading another one +packed. He had a rifle under his knee, a pistol on his hip and a pair of +field glasses in a case on the horn; and he rode in on a trot, looking +about with a knowing smile that changed suddenly to a smirk of triumph. + +"Well, well!" he exclaimed as he saw Eells emerge from the bank, "how's +the mine, Mr. Eells; how's the mine?" + +And Judson Eells, who had rushed out at the rumor of his approach, drew +up his lip and glared at him hatefully. + +"You're a criminal!" he bellowed, "I could have you jailed for +this--that Stinging Lizard mine was salted!" + +"The hell you say!" shrilled Wunpost and then he laughed uproariously +while he did a little jig in his stirrups. "Yeee--hoo!" he yelled, "say, +that's pretty good! Have you any idee who done it?" + +"You did it!" answered Eells, "and I could have you arrested for it, +only I don't want to have any trouble. But you agreed to leave town and +now I see you're back--what's the meaning of this, Mr. Calhoun?" + +"Too slow inside," complained Mr. Calhoun, who was sporting a brand-new +outfit, "so I thought I'd come back and shake hands with my friends and +take another look at my mine. Costs money to live in Los Angeles and I +bought me a dog--looky here, cost me eight hundred dollars!" + +He reached down into a nest which he had hollowed out of the pack and +held up a wilted fox terrier, and as Eells stood speechless he dropped +it back into its cubby-hole and laid a loving hand on the mule. + +"How's this for a mule?" he enquired ingenuously, "cost me five hundred +dollars in Barstow. Fastest walker in the West--picked him out on +purpose--and my pack mule can carry four hundred. How much did you lose +on the Stinging Lizard?" + +"I lost over thirty thousand dollars, with the road work and all," +answered Eells with ponderous exactitude, and Wunpost laughed again. + +"Thirty thousand!" he echoed. "I wish it was a million! But you can't +say that I didn't warn you!" + +"Warn me!" raged Eells, "you did nothing of the kind. It was a +deliberate attempt to defraud me." + +"Aw, cripes," scoffed Wunpost, "you can't win all the time--why don't +you take your medicine like a sport? Didn't I name the danged hole The +Stinging Lizard? Well, there was your warning--but you got stung!" + +He laughed heartily at the joke and looked up the street, ignoring the +staring crowd. + +"Well, got to go!" he said. "Where _is_ that road you built--like +to go up and take a look at it!" + +"It extends up Jail Canyon," returned the banker grimly. "I understand +Mr. Campbell is using it." + +"Pretty work!" exclaimed Wunpost, "won't be wasted, anyhow. That'll come +in right handy for Cole. Why didn't you buy the old hassayamper out?" + +"He won't sell!" grumbled Eells, "say, come in here a minute--I've got +something I want to talk over." + +He led the way into his inner office, where an electric fan was running, +and Wunpost took off his big, black hat to loll before the breeze. + +"Pretty nice," he pronounced, "they've got lots of 'em in Los. But I +never suffered so much from heat in my life--the poor fools all wear +_coats_! Gimme the desert, every time!" + +"So you've come back to stay, eh?" inquired Eells unsociably, "I thought +you'd left these parts." + +"Yep--left and came back," replied Wunpost lightly. "Say, how much do +you want for that contract? You might as well release me, because it'll +never buy _you_ anything--you've got all the mines you'll get." + +"I'll never release you!" answered Judson Eells firmly. "It's against my +principles to do it." + +"Aw, put a price on it," burst out Wunpost bluffly, "you know you +haven't got any principles. You're out for the dough, the same as the +rest of us, and you figure you'll make more by holding on. But I'm here +to tell you that I'm getting too slick for you and you might as well +quit while you're lucky." + +"Not for any money," responded Judson Eells solemnly, "I am in this as a +matter of principle." + +"Ahhr, principle!" scoffed Wunpost. "You're the crookedest dog that ever +drew up a contract--and then talk to me about _principle_! Why +don't you say what you mean and call it your system--like they use +trying to break the roulette wheel? But I'm telling you your system is +played out. I'll never locate another claim as long as I live, unless +I'm released from that contract; so where do you figure on any more +Willie Meenas? All you'll get will be Stinging Lizards." + +He burst out into taunting laughter but Judson Eells sat dumb, his heavy +lower lip drawn up grimly. + +"That's all right," he said at last, "I have reason to believe that you +have located a very rich mine--and the only way you personally can ever +get a dollar out of it, is to come through and give me half!" + +"The only way, eh?" jeered Wunpost, "well, where did I get the price to +buy that swell pair of mules? Did I give you one half, or even a smell? +Not much--and I got this, besides." + +He slapped a wad of bills that he drew from his pocket, and Eells knew +they were a part of his payment--the purchase price of the salted +Stinging Lizard--but he only looked them over and scowled. + +"Nothing doing, eh?" observed Wunpost rising up to go, "you won't sell +that contract for no price. Going to follow me up, eh, and find this +hidden treasure, and skin me out of it, too? Well, hop to it, Mr. Eells, +and after you've got a bellyful perhaps you'll listen to reason. You got +stung good and plenty when you bought the Stinging Lizard and I figure +I'm pretty well heeled. Got two new mules, beside my other animals, and +an eight hundred dollar watch-dog to keep me company; and I'm going to +come back inside of a month with my mules loaded down with gold. Do you +reckon your pet rabbit, Mr. Phillip F. Flappum, can make me come through +with any part of it? Well, I consulted a lawyer before I left Los +Angeles and he said--decidedly not! Your contract calls for claims, +wherever located, but I haven't got any claim. This ore that I bring in +may be dug from some claim, and then again it may be high-graded from +some mine; but you've got to find that claim and prove that it exists +before you can call for a cent. You've got to prove, by grab, where I +got that gold, before you can claim that it's yours--and that's +something you never can do. I'm going to say I _stole_ it and if +you sue for any part of it you make yourself out a thief!" + +He slammed his hand on Eells' desk and slammed the door when he went out +and mounted his big mule with a swagger. The citizens of Blackwater made +way for him promptly, though many a lip curled in scorn, and he rode out +of town sitting sideways in his saddle while he did a little jig in his +stirrups. He had come into town and bearded their leading citizen and +now he was on his way. If any wished to follow, that was their privilege +as free citizens, and their efforts might lead them to a mine; but on +the other hand they might lead them up some very rocky canyons and down +through Death Valley in summer. But there was one man he knew would +follow, for the stakes were high and Judson Eells was not to be +denied--it was up to Lynch, who had claimed to be so bad, to prove +himself a tracker and a desert-man. + +Wunpost rode along slowly until the sun went down, for the heat-haze +hung black over the Sink, and that evening about midnight he entered +Jail Canyon on a road that was graded like a boulevard. It swung around +the point well up above the creek, and then on along the wash to +Corkscrew Gorge, and as he paused below the house Wunpost chuckled to +himself as he thought of his boasts to Wilhelmina. He had bet her two +months before that, without turning his hand over or spending a cent of +money, he could build her father a road; and now here it was, laid out +like a highway--a proof that his system would work. She had chosen to +scoff when he had made his big talk; but here he was back with his +clothes full of money, and Judson Eells had kindly built the road. He +looked up at the moon, where it rose swimming through the haze, and +laughed until he shook; then he camped and waited for day. + +The dawn came in a wave of heat, preceding the sun like the breath from +a furnace; and Wunpost woke up suddenly to hear his wilted terrier +barking furiously as he raced towards the house. There was a moment of +silence, then the spit and yell of a cat and as Wunpost stood grinning +his dog came slinking back licking the blood from a scratch across his +nose. He was a fullblooded fox terrier, but small and white and trembly; +and the baby-blue in his eyes pleaded of youth and inexperience as he +crouched before his stern master. + +"Come here!" commanded Wunpost but as he reached down to slap him a +voice called his name from above. + +"_Don't_ whip him!" it begged and Wunpost withheld his hand for +Wilhelmina had been much in his mind. She came dancing down the trail, +her curls tumbling about her face and down over the perennial +bib-overalls, and when the pup saw her he left his scowling master and +crept meechingly to take refuge at her feet. + +"He was chasing Red," she dimpled, "and you know how fierce he is--why, +Red isn't afraid of a wildcat! Where have you been? We've all been +looking for you!" + +"I've been in Los Angeles," responded Wunpost with a sigh, "but, by +grab, I never thought that this dog of mine would get licked by an old +yaller cat!" + +"He isn't yellow--he's red!" corrected Wilhelmina briskly, "the desert +makes all yellow cats red; but where'd you get your dog? And oh, yes; +isn't it fine--how do you like our new road? They had it built up to +your mine!" + +"So I hear," returned Wunpost with a grim twinkle in his eye, "what do +you think of my system now?" + +"Why, what system?" asked Billy, staring blankly into his face, and +Wunpost pulled down his lip. Was it possible that this fly-away had +taken his words so lightly that she had forgotten his exposition and +prophecy? Did she think that this road had come there by accident and +not by deep-laid design? He called back his dog and made him lie down +behind him and then he changed the subject. + +"How's your father getting along?" he asked after a silence, "has he +shipped out any ore? Well say, you tell 'im to get a move on. There's +liable to be a cloudburst and wash the whole road out, and then where'd +you be with your home stake?" + +"Well, I guess there hasn't been one for over twelve years," answered +Billy snapping her fingers enticingly to his dog, "and besides, it's so +hot the trucks can't gull up the canyon--it makes their radiators boil. +But we've got it all sacked and when Father gets his payment I'm going +inside, to school. Isn't it fine, after all they said about Dad--calling +him crazy and everything else--and now his mine is worth lots and lots +of money! I knew all the time he would win! And Eells has been up here +and offered us forty thousand dollars, but Father wouldn't even consider +it." + +She stepped over boldly and picked up the dog, who wriggled frantically +and tried to lick her face, and Wunpost stood mumbling to himself. So +now it was her father who was getting all the credit for this wonderful +stroke of luck; and he and the others who had called old Cole crazy were +proven by the event to be fools. And yet he had packed ore for over two +weeks to salt the Stinging Lizard for Eells! + +"Put your mules in the corral and come up to breakfast!" cried Billy +starting off for the house; and then she dropped his dog, which ran +capering along behind her--and Wunpost had named it Good Luck! If she +stole his dog on top of everything else, he would learn about women from +her. + +There was a cordial welcome at the house from Mrs. Campbell, who was +radiant with joy over their good fortune; but Wunpost avoided the +subject of the sale of his mine, for of course she must know it was +salted. Anyone would know that after they had dug down a ways for +Wunpost had simply quarried out a vein of rotten quartz and filled the +resultant fissure with high grade. But there is something in Latin about +_caveat emptor_, which is short for "Let the buyer beware!" and if +Judson Eells was so foolish as to build his road first that was +certainly no fault of Wunpost's. All he had done was to locate the hole, +and then Judson Eells had jumped it; and if, as a result thereof, +Wunpost had trimmed him of twenty thousand, that was nothing to what +Eells had done to him. And yet every time he met Mrs. Campbell's eye he +felt that she had her reservations about him. He was a mine-salter, a +crook, the same as Eells was a crook; but she welcomed him all the same. +Perhaps she held it to his credit that he had given Billy a full half +when he had discovered the Willie Meena Mine; but it might be, of +course, that she was this way with everyone and simply tolerated him as +she did Hungry Bill. He ate a good breakfast, but without saying much, +and then he went back to his camp. + +Wilhelmina tagged along, joyous as a child to have company and quite +innocent of what is called maidenly reserve; and Wunpost dug down into +his pack and gave her a bag of candy, at the same time patting her hand. + +"Yours truly," he said, "sweets to the sweet, and all that. Say, what do +you think this is?" + +He held up a box, which might contain almost anything that was less than +six inches square, and shook his head at all her guesses. + +"Come on up to the lookout," he said at last and she followed along +fearlessly behind him. There are maidens, of course, who would refuse to +enter dark tunnels in the company of masterful young prospectors; but +Wilhelmina had yet to learn both fear and feminine subterfuge and she +made no pretty excuses. She was neither afraid of the dark, nor +afflicted with vertigo, nor reminded of pressing home duties; and she +was frankly interested both in the contents of the box and the ways of a +man with a maid. He had given her some candy, and there was a gift in +the little box--and once before he had made as if to kiss her; would he +now, after bringing his lover's gifts, demand the customary tribute? And +if so, should she permit it; and if not, why not? + +It was very perplexing and yet Billy was determined not to evade any of +the problems of life. All girls had their suitors; and yet few of them, +she knew, were cast in the heroic mold of Wunpost. He was big and +strong, with roving blue eyes and a smile that was both compelling and +shy; and sometimes when he looked at her she felt a vague tumult, for of +course he could kiss her if he would. When he had assaulted Old Whiskers +and seized Dusty Rhodes by the throat, in the contest over their mine, +she had stood in awe of his violence; but except for that one time when +he had attempted to steal a kiss, he had reserved his rough violence for +his enemies. Yet--and somehow the thought thrilled her--it might be, +after all, that he was shy; and that playful, bear-like hug was only his +boyish way of hinting at the wish in his heart. + +It might even be that he was secretly in love with her, as she had read +of other lovers in books; and that all the time, unknown to her, he was +worshiping her beauty from afar. For she was beautiful, she knew it--and +others had told her so--and there are few girls indeed that have curling +hair _and_ dimples, but Nature had given her both. And now if he +did not kiss her, or speak from his heart, it would be because she was +dressed like a boy; and she would have to lay aside her overalls +forever. For no one can hope to retain everything in this world, and +life is ours to be lived; and if worst came to worst, she might give up +her freedom and consent to wear millinery and skirts. She sighed and +followed on, and came safely to the portal which looked out on the great +world below. + +Wunpost sat down deliberately at the mouth of the tunnel, on the broad +seat she had built along the wall, and handed Wilhelmina the package; +and as she sank down beside him the panting fox terrier slumped down at +her feet and wheezed. But Billy failed to notice this sign of affection, +for as the package was broken open a dainty case was exposed and this in +turn revealed a pair of glasses. Not ordinary, cheap field-glasses with +rusty round barrels and lenses that refracted the colors of the rainbow; +but exquisitely small ones, with square shoulders on the sides and +quality showing in every line. She caught them up ecstatically and +looked out across the Sink; and Wunpost let her gaze, though her focus +was all wrong, while he made his little speech. + +"Now," he said, "next time you see my dust you'll know whether it's a +man or a dog." + +"Oh, aren't they fine!" exclaimed Billy, swinging the glasses on +Blackwater. "I can see every house in town. And there's a man on the +trail--yes, and another one behind--I believe they're coming this way." + +"Probably Pisen-face Lynch," observed Wunpost unconcernedly, "I expected +him to be on my trail." + +"Why, what for?" murmured Billy still struggling with the focus. "Oh, +now I can see them fine! Oh, aren't these just wonderful--and such +little things, too--are you going to use them to hunt horses?" + +"No, they're yours!" returned Wunpost with a generous swagger, "I've got +another pair of my own. I'll never forget how you picked me up that +time, so this is a kind of present." + +"A present!" gasped Wilhelmina and then she paused and blushed, for of +course she had known it all the time. They were small glasses, for a +lady, but it was nice of him to say it, and to mention her finding him +on the desert. And now her mother would have to let her keep them, for, +they were in remembrance of her saving his life. + +"It's awful kind of you," she said, "and I'll never forget it--and now, +won't you show me how they work?" + +She drew a little closer, and as her curls brushed his cheek Wunpost +reeled as if from a blow. + +"Sure," he said and gave her a kiss just as if she had really asked for +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WITH HAY HOOKS + + +It is no more than right that the first kiss should be forgiven, +especially if no one is to blame, and Wilhelmina forgave him very +sweetly; but there was a wild, hunted look in Wunpost's bold eyes and he +wondered what would happen next. Something had come over him very +suddenly and made him forget the restraint which all ladies, even in +overalls, laid upon him; and when their hands had touched some great +force had drawn them together and he had kissed her before she knew it. +But instead of resisting she had yielded for a moment, and then pushed +him away very slowly; and he still remembered, like part of a dream, her +heart beating against his breast. But it was all over now, and she was +toying with the field-glasses which he had brought from the city as a +present. + +"Isn't it wonderful," she said, "how we first came together? And the +first place I looked for when you gave me these glasses was that wash +where you made your two fires." + +"If you'd had them then," ventured Wunpost at last, "you'd've been able +to see me plain." + +"Yes," she sighed, "but I found you anyhow. Doesn't it seem a long time +ago? And it was only the end of last May." + +"Something doing every minute," burst out Wunpost gaily, "say, I've +found two mines this summer! What did old Eells think of the Stinging +Lizard? I hooked him right on that--he'll be careful what he grabs next +time. And when he jumps the next claim of mine I reckon he'll sink a few +feet before he builds any more ten thousand dollar roads!" + +He chuckled and ran his hand through his tumbled hair, which always +stood straight on end, but Billy was looking at him curiously. + +"Mr. Eells was up to see us," she said at last, "and he claims you +salted that mine. And he even told Father that you located it up our +canyon just on purpose so we could use his road!" + +"And what did you say?" inquired Wunpost teasingly. "Didn't I tell you, +right here, I was going to do it?" + +"Oh, but you were just fooling!" she protested laughing, "and I told him +you did nothing of the kind. And then Father stepped in, when he heard +what we were talking about, and he told Mr. Eells what he thought of +him." + +"No, but I did salt the mine!" spoke up Wunpost quickly, "there wasn't +any fooling there. And, being as I had to locate it somewhere--well, the +chances are Eells was correct." + +"Oh, that's just the way you talk!" she burst out incredulously; "did +you honestly do it on purpose?" + +"Well, I guess I did!" boasted Wunpost. "I just stopped over in +Blackwater and told Mr. Eells all about it. So don't be worried on +_my_ account--and he built you a mighty good road." + +"Yes, but do you think it was quite right," began Billy indignantly, "to +make Father seem a party to a fraud? It's what some people would call a +very shady transaction; but I suppose, of course, you're proud of it!" + +"Why, sure I am!" returned Wunpost warmly, "and you don't need to be so +high and mighty. I guess I'm just as good as your old man or anybody, +and I notice he's using the road!" + +"He won't though," answered Billy, "if I tell him what's happened! My +father is honest, he works for what he gets, and that road is just the +same as stolen!" + +"Well, go ahead and tell him!" challenged Wunpost angrily. "We'll come +to a show-down, right now. And anybody that's too good to use my road is +too good to associate with _me_!" He brought down his big fist into +the palm of his hand and Wilhelmina jumped at the smack. "Didn't I tell +you," he demanded rising and pointing at her accusingly, "didn't I say I +was going to build that road? Well, why didn't you kick about it +_then_? You were game to follow me up and jump my mine so your +father could build him a road; but the minute I trim old Eells, who has +robbed you of a million, by grab, all of a sudden you get _good_! +You can't bear to use a road that that old skinflint built, thinking +he'd robbed me of another rich mine! No, that wouldn't be right, that's +a shady transaction! All right then, don't use the doggoned road!" + +He smashed his fist into his hand in a final sweeping gesture of disdain +and Wilhelmina gazed at him fixedly. + +"I thought you were just talking," she said at last, "but don't you ever +tell Father what's happened. If you do he'll never use the road--or if +he does, he'll pay Mr. Eells for it. He tries to be honest in +everything." + +"Yes, and look what it gets him!" cried Wunpost passionately, "he's +spent half his life in this hell-hole of a canyon and you're chasing +around here in overalls! And then when some _crook_ like me comes +along and gives him a ten thousand dollar road this is all the thanks he +gets! I'm through--you can rustle for yourself!" + +"Very well!" returned Billy with a wild gleam in her eye, "and if you +don't like my overalls----" + +"I do!" he broke in, "I like 'em fine--like 'em better than those flimsy +danged skirts! But if you're too good to use my road----" + +"It isn't that," interrupted Billy, "I'm glad you built the road, but +Father looks at it differently. He told Mr. Eells he wouldn't be a party +to any such scheme to defraud. But--now it's all built--don't tell him +how you did it; because I want him to have a little happiness. He's been +working so long and this came, as he said, just like an act of +Providence; so let's not tell him, and when he's taken out his ore he +can pay Mr. Eells, if he wishes to." + +"If he's crazy!" corrected Wunpost. "What, pay that crook? Say, do you +see those two men on the trail? They're hired by Eells to tag along +behind me and trail me to my mine. Now what right has he got to claim +that mine? Did he ever give me a dollar to spend, while I was up there +in the high country looking for it? He did not, and he stole every +dollar I had before I ever went out to prospect. Didn't he rob us both +of the Willie Meena--take it all without giving us a cent? Well, what's +the sense of trying to treat him white, when you know he's out to do +you? His name is Eells and he skins 'em alive! But you wait--I'm out to +skin _him_!" + +"You're awfully convincing," conceded Billy smiling tremulously, "but +somehow it doesn't seem right. Just because he robs you----" + +"Aw, forget it; forget it!" exclaimed Wunpost impatiently, "didn't I +tell you this is no Sunday school picnic? What're you going to do, let +him go on robbing everybody until he has all the money in the world? No, +you've got to play the game--go after him with the hay hooks and get his +back hair if you can! I've trimmed him of twenty thousand and a ten +thousand dollar road, but where did he get all that coin? He took it out +of our mine, the old Willie Meena, and a whole lot more besides. Well, +whose money was it, anyway--didn't I own the mine first? All right, +then, I reckon it was _mine_!" + +He patted his pocket, where his roll of bills lay, and smiled roguishly +as he grabbed up the dog. + +"Fine pup, eh?" he began, "well, he picked me out himself--followed +along when I was going down the street. Tried to lose him and couldn't +do it, he followed me everywhere, so I kept him and called him Good +Luck. Get the idea? Luck is my pup, he lays down and rolls over whenever +I say the word. Going to make a fine watch-dog if he lives through this +hot weather--how'd you like to keep him a while?" + +"Oh, I'd like to!" beamed Billy, "only I'm afraid you might be +jealous----" + +"Not of no pup, kid," returned Wunpost with his lordliest swagger, "and +if you steal him, by grab you can have him!" + +"Well, I'll bet I can do it!" answered Billy defiantly. "And are you +still going to give me that mine?" + +"If you can find it!" nodded Wunpost. "Or I'll give it to Mr. Lynch, if +he'll promise to follow the leader. I see that's an Injun that he's got +riding along behind him but I'm going to lose 'em both. These +Shooshonnies ain't so much--I can out-trail 'em, any time--and I tell +you what I'm going to do. I'm going to lead Mr. Lynch and his rat-eating +guide just as long as they're game to follow, and if they follow me two +weeks I'll take 'em to my mine and tell 'em to help themselves. Now +that's sporting, ain't it? Because the Sockdolager ain't staked and +she's the richest hole I've struck." + +"Yes, it's sporting," she admitted, "but why don't you stake it? Are you +afraid they'll take it away from you?" + +"Don't you think it!" he exclaimed, "if it was staked I'd have half of +it! No, I'm doing this out of pride. I'm leaving that claim open and if +Mr. Eells can find it he's welcome to it _all_! But I'm telling +you, it'll never be found!" + +He nodded impressively, with a wise, mysterious, smile, and Billy rose +up impatiently. + +"I believe you _like_ to fight," she stated accusingly and Wunpost +did not deny it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +POISONED BAIT + + +The fight for the Sockdolager Mine was on and Wunpost led off up the +canyon with a swagger. His fast walking mule stepped off at a brisk pace +and the pack-mule, well loaded with provisions and grain, followed along +up Judson Eells' road. First it led through the Gorge, now clinging to +one wall and now crossing perforce to the other, and as Wunpost saw the +work of the powder-men above him he laughed and slapped his leg. Great +masses of rock had been shot down from the sides, filling up the +pot-holes which the cloudburst had dug; and then, along the sides, a +grade had been constructed which gave clearance for loaded trucks. Past +the Gorge, the work showed the signs of greater haste, as if Eells had +driven his men to the limit; but to get through at all he had had to +move much dirt, and that of course had run into money. Wunpost ambled +along luxuriously, chuckling at each heavy job of blasting and at the +spot where Cole Campbell's road turned in; and then he swung off up +Woodpecker Canyon to where the Stinging Lizard Mine had been located. + +Great timbers still lay where they had been dumped from the trucks, +there was a concrete foundation for the engine; and a double-compartment +shaft, sunk on the salted vein, showed what great expectations had been +blasted. With the Willie Meena still sinking on high-grade ore, Judson +Eells had taken a good deal for granted when he had set out to develop +the Stinging Lizard. He had squared out his shaft and sunk on the vein +only as far as the muckers could throw out the waste; and then, instead +of installing a windlass or a whim, he had decided upon a gallows-frame +and hoist. But to bring in his machinery he must first have a road, for +the trail was all but impassable; and so, without sinking, he had +blasted his way up the canyon, only to find his efforts wasted. The ore +had been dug out before his engine was installed, thus saving him even +greater loss; but every dollar that he had put into the work had been +absolutely thrown away. Wunpost camped there and gloated and then, +shortly after midnight, he set off with his tongue in his cheek. + +The time had now come when he was to match wits with Lynch in the old +game of follow-my-leader and, even with the Indian to do Lynch's +tracking, he had no fears for the outcome. There were places on those +peaks where a man could travel for miles without placing his foot on +soft ground, and other places in Death Valley where he could travel in +sand that was so powdery it would bog a butterfly. First the high +places, to wear them out and make Pisen-face Lynch get quarrelsome; and +then the desolate Valley, with its heat and poison springs, to put the +final touch to his revenge. For it was revenge that Wunpost sought, +revenge on Pisen-face Lynch, who had driven him from two claims with a +gun; and this chase over the hills, which had started so casually, had +really been planned for months. It was part of that "system" which he +had developed so belatedly, by which his enemies were all to be +confounded; and, knowing that Lynch would follow wherever he led, +Wunpost had made his plans accordingly. He was leading the way into a +trap, long set, which was sure to enmesh its prey. + +At daylight Wunpost paused in his steady, plunging climb and looked back +over the rock-slides and boulders; and while his mules munched their +grain well back out of sight he focussed his new field glasses and +watched. From the knife-blade ridge up which he had spurred and +scrambled the whole country lay before him like a relief map, and in the +particular gash-like canyon where he had located the Stinging Lizard he +made out his furtive pursuers. The Indian was ahead, leaning over in his +saddle as he kept his eyes on the trail; and Lynch rode behind, a heavy +rifle beneath his knee, scanning the ridges to prevent a surprise. But +neither led a pack-horse and when Wunpost had looked his fill he put up +his glasses and smiled. + +In the country where he was going there was no grass for those horses, +no browse that even an Indian pony could travel on; and if they wanted +to keep up with him and his grain-fed mules they would have to use quirt +and spurs. And the man who feeds his horse on buckskin alone is due to +walk back to camp. So reasoned John C. Calhoun from his cow-puncher +days, when he had tried out the weaknesses of horseflesh; and as he +returned to the grassy swale where his mules were hid he looked them +over proudly. His riding mule, Old Walker, was still in his prime, a +big-bellied animal with the long reach in its fore-shoulders which made +it by nature a fast walker; and his pack-mule, equally round-bellied to +store away food, was short-bodied as well so that he bore his pack +easily without any tendency to give down. He had been raised with Old +Walker and would follow him anywhere, without being dragged by a rope, +so that Wunpost had both hands for any emergency which might arise and +could keep his eyes on the trail. + +And to think that these noble animals, big and black and beautifully +gaited, had been bought with Judson Eells' own money; while he, poor +fool, sent Lynch out after him on a miserable Indian cayuse. Wunpost's +road was always plain, for where he went they must follow, but at every +rocky point or granite-strewn flat they must circle and cut for his +trail. As he rode on now to the north he did not double and twist, for +the Indian would know the old trail; but the tracks he had left behind +him before he mounted to the ridge were as aimless as it was possible to +make them. They did not strike out boldly up some hogback or canyon but +at every fork and bend they turned this way and that, as if he were +hopelessly lost. And now as he rode on, unobserved by his pursuers, over +the well-worn Indian trail along the summit, Lynch and his tracker were +far behind, tracing his mule-tracks to and fro, up and down the broiling +hot canyons. + +On the summit it was cool and the grass was still green, for the snow +had held late on the peaks, and the junipers and pinons had given place +to oaks and limber pines which stood up along the steep slopes like +switches. The air was sweet and pure, all the world lay below him; but, +as the heat came on, the abyss of Death Valley was lost in a pall of +black haze. It gathered from nowhere, smoke-like and yet not smoke; a +haze, a murk, a mass of writhing heat like the fumes from a witches' +cauldron. Wunpost had simmered in that cauldron, and he would simmer +again soon; but gladly, if he had Lynch for company. It was +follow-my-leader and, since there were no long wharves to jump off of, +Wunpost had decided upon the Valley of Death. And if, in following after +him to rob him of his mine, Pisen-face Lynch should succumb to the heat, +that might justly be considered a visitation of Providence to punish him +for his misspent life. Or at least so Wunpost reasoned and, remembering +the gun under Lynch's knee, he decided to keep well in the lead. + +Wunpost camped that night at the upper water in Wild Rose Canyon, +letting his mules get a last feed of grass; and the next morning at +daylight he was up and away on the long trail that led down to Death +Valley. But first it led north over a broad, sandy plain, where Indian +ponies were grazing in stray bands; and then, after ten miles, it swung +off to the east where it broke through the hills and turned down. After +that it was a jump-off for six thousand feet, from the mountain-top to +down below sea-level; and, before he lost himself in the gap between the +hills, Wunpost paused and looked back across the plain. + +This was the door to his trap, for at the edge of the rim the trail +split in twain; the Wet Trail leading past water while the Dry Trail was +shorter, but dry. And as live bait is best he unpacked and waited +patiently until he spied his pursuers in the pass. They were not five +miles away, coming down the narrow draw which marked the turn in the +trail, and after a long look Wunpost put up his glasses and saddled and +packed to go. Yet still he lingered on, looking back through the +shimmering heat that seemed to make the yellow earth blaze; until at +last they were so near that he could see them point ahead and bring +their tired horses to a stop. Then he whipped out his pistol and shot +back at them defiantly, turning off up the Dry Trail at a trot. + +They followed, but cautiously, as if anxious to avoid a conflict and +Wunpost swung off between the points of two hills and led them on down +the dry canyon. If they took the Wet Trail, which the Indian knew, he +might double back and give them the slip; but now there was no water +till they had descended to sea level and crossed the treacherous +corduroy to Furnace Creek. The trap was sprung, they were committed to +the adventure, to follow him wherever he might lead; and Wunpost never +stopped spurring until he had descended the steep canyon and led them +out in the dry wash below. It was like climbing down a wall into a +sink-hole of boiling heat, but Lynch did not weaken and Wunpost bowed +his head and took the main trail to the ranch. + +The sun swung low behind the rim of the Panamints, throwing a shadow +across the broad canyon below; ten miles to the east, under the heat and +haze, lay Furnace Creek Ranch and rest; but as his pursuers came on, +just keeping within sight of him, Wunpost turned off sharply to the +north. He quit the trail and struck out across the boulder-patches +towards the point of Tucki Mountain, and if they followed him there it +would be into a country that even the Indians were afraid of. It was +there that Death Valley had earned its name, when a party of Mormon +emigrants had died beside their ox-teams after drinking the water at +Salt Creek. There was Stove-pipe Hole, with the grave close by of the +man who had not stopped to bail the hole; and, nearest of all, was +Poison Spring, the worst water in all Death Valley. Wunpost turned out +and started north, daring his enemies to follow, and Lynch accept the +challenge--alone. + +The Indian rode on, leaving the white man to his fate and heading for +Furnace Creek Ranch; and Wunpost, sweating streams and cursing to +himself, flogged on toward Poison Spring. It was a hideous thing to do, +but Lynch had chosen to follow him and his blood would be upon his own +head. Wunpost had given him the trail, to go on to the ranch while he +turned back the way they had come; but no, Lynch was bull-headed, or +perhaps the heat had warped his judgment--in any case he had elected to +follow. The last courtesies were past, Wunpost had given him his chance, +and Lynch had taken his trail like a bloodhound; he could not claim now +that he was going in the same direction--he was following along after +him like a murderer. Perhaps the slow fever of the terrible heat had +turned his anger into an obsession to kill, for Wunpost himself was +beginning to feel the desert madness and he set out deliberately to lure +him. + +Where the black and frowning ramparts of Tucki Mountain thrust out +towards the edge of the Sink a spring of stinking water rises up from +the ground and runs off into the marsh. From the peaks above, it is a +bright strip of green at which the wary mountain sheep gaze longingly; +but down in that rank grass there are bones and curling horns that have +taught the survivors to beware. It is Poison Spring, _the_ Poison +Spring in a land where all water is bad; and in many a long day Wunpost +was the only human being who had gazed into its crystal depths. For the +water was clear, too clear to be good, without even a green scum along +its edge; and the rank, deceiving grass which grew up below could not +tempt him to more than taste it. But, being trailed at the time by some +men from Nevada who had seen the Sockdolager ore, he had conceived a +possible use for the spring; and, coming back later, he had buried two +cans of good water where he could find them when occasion demanded. This +was the trap, in fact, toward which for four days he had been leading +his vindictive pursuers; it was poisoned bait, laid out by Nature +herself, to strike down such coyotes as Lynch. + +Wunpost arrived at Poison Spring well along in the evening, the desert +night being almost turned to day by the splendor of a waning moon. He +rode in across the flat and down the salt-encrusted bank, still +sweltering in the smothering heat; and the pounding blood in his brain +had brought on a kind of fury--a death-anger at Pisen-face Lynch. He dug +into the sand and drew out the cans of water, holding his mules away +from the spring; and then, from a bucket, he gave each a small drink +after taking a large one himself. There were two five-gallon cans, and +after he had finished he lashed the full one on the pack; the other one, +which sloshed faintly if one shook it up and down, he tossed mockingly +down by the spring. And then he rode on, wiping the sweat from his brow +and gazing back grimly into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WUNPOST TAKES THEM ALL ON + + +The morning found Wunpost at Salt Creek Crossing, where the bones of a +hundred emigrants lie buried in the sand without even a cross to mark +their resting place. It was a place well calculated to bring up thoughts +of death, but Wunpost faced the coming day calmly. At the first flush of +dawn the sand was still hot from the sun of the evening before; the low +air seemed to suffocate him with its below-sea-level pressure, and the +salt marshes to give off stinking gases; it was a hell-hole, even then, +and the day was yet to come, when the Valley would make life a torment. + +The white borax-flats would reflect a blinding light, the briny marshes +would seethe in the sun; and every rock, every sand-dune, would radiate +more heat to add to the flame in the sky. Wunpost knew it well, the +long-enduring agony which would be his lot that day; but he moved about +briskly, bailing the slime from the well and sinking it deeper into the +sand. He doused his body into the water and let his pores drink, and +threw buckets of it on his beseeching mules; but only after the +well-hole had been scraped and bailed twice would he permit them to +drink the brackish water. Then he tied them in the shade of the wilting +mesquite trees and strode to the top of the hill. + +A man, perforce, takes on the color of his surroundings, and Wunpost was +coated white from the crystallized salt and baked black underneath by +the glare; but the look in his eyes was as savage and implacable as that +of a devil from hell. He sat down on the point and focussed his glasses +on Poison Spring, and then on the trail beyond; and at last, out on the +marshes, he saw an object that moved--it was Pisen-face Lynch and his +horse. The horse was in the lead, picking his way along a trail which +led across the Sink towards the Ranch; and Lynch was behind, following +feebly and sinking down, then springing up again and struggling on. His +way led over hummocks of solid salt, across mud-holes and +borax-encrusted flats; and far to the south another form moved towards +him--it was the Indian, riding out to bring him in. + +The sun swung up high, striking through Wunpost's thin shirt like the +blast from a furnace door; sweat rolled down his face, to be sopped up +by the bath-towel which he wore draped about his neck; but he sat on his +hilltop, grim as a gargoyle on Notre Dame, gloating down on the +suffering man. This was Pisen-face Lynch, the bad man from Bodie, who +was going to trail him to his mine; this was Eells' hired man-killer and +professional claim-jumper who had robbed him of the Wunpost and Willie +Meena--and now he was a derelict, lost on the desert he claimed to know, +following along behind his half-dead horse; and but for the Indian who +was coming out to meet him he would go to his just reward. Wunpost put +up his glasses and turned back with a grin--it was hell, but he was +getting his revenge. + +Wunpost spent the heat of the day in the bottom of the well, floating +about like a frog in the brine, but as evening came on he crawled out +dripping and saddled up and packed in haste. Every cinch-ring was +searing hot, even the wood and leather burned him, and as he threw on +the packs he lifted one foot after the other in a devil's dance over the +hot sands. It was hot even for Death Valley, the hottest place in North +America, but there was no use in waiting for it to cool. Wunpost soused +himself and mounted, and the next morning at dawn he looked down from +the rim of the Panamints. + +The great sink-hole was beginning to seethe, to give off its poisonous +vapors and fill up like a bowl with its own heat; but he had escaped it +and fled to the heights while Pisen-face Lynch stayed below. He was +still at the ranch, gasping for breath before the water-fan which served +to keep the men there alive; and as he breathed that bone-dry air and +felt the day's heat coming on, he was cursing the name of Calhoun. Yes, +cursing long and loud, or deep and low, and vowing to wreak his revenge; +for before he had worked for hire, but now he had a grievance of his +own. He would take up Wunpost's trail like an Indian on the warpath, +like a warrior who had been robbed of his medicine-bag; he would come on +the run and with blood in his eye--that is, if the heat had not killed +him. For his pride was involved, and his name as a trailer and an +all-around desert-man; he had been led into a trap by a boy in his +twenties, and it was up to him to demonstrate or quit. + +Wunpost went his way tranquilly, for there was no one to pursue him; and +ten days later he rode down Jail Canyon with his pack-mule loaded with +ore. It had been his boast that he would return in two weeks with a +mule-load of Sockdolager gold; but Billy, as usual, had taken his boast +lightly and came running with news of her own. + +"Hello!" she called. "Say, you can't guess what I've done--I've taught +Red and Good Luck to be friends. They eat their supper together!" + +"Good!" observed Wunpost, "and not to change the subject, what's the +chances for a white man to eat? I've been living on jerky for three +days." + +"Why, they're good," returned Billy, suddenly quieted by his manner. +"What's the matter--have you had any trouble?" + +"Oh, no!" blustered Wunpost, "nah, nothing like that--the other fellow +had all the trouble. Did Pisen-face Lynch and that Injun come back? +Well, I'll bet they were dragging their tracks out!" + +"They didn't come through here, but I saw them on the trail--it must +have been a week ago. But what's all that that you've got in your +pack-sacks--have you been out and got some more ore?" + +"Why, sure," answered Wunpost, deftly easing off his kyacks and lowering +the load to the ground. "Didn't I tell you I was going to get some?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"But what?" he demanded, looking down on her arrogantly, and Wilhelmina +became interested in the dog. + +"You have such a funny way of talking," she said at last, "and +besides--would you mind letting me look at it?" + +"I sure would!" replied Wunpost; "you leave them sacks alone. And any +time my word ain't as good as gold----" + +"Oh, of course it's good!" she protested, and he took her at her word. + +"All right, then--I've got the gold." + +"Oh, have you really?" she cried, and as he rolled his eyes accusingly +she laughed and bit her lip. "That's just _my_ way of talking," she +explained, rather lamely. "I mean I'm glad--and surprised." + +"Well, you'll be more surprised," he said, nodding grimly, "when I show +you a piece of the ore. I sold that last lot to a jeweler in Los Angeles +for twenty-four dollars an ounce, quartz and all--and pure gold is worth +a little over twenty. Talk about your jewelry ore! Wait till I show this +in Blackwater and watch them saloon-bums come through here. Too lazy to +go out and find anything for themselves--all they know is to follow some +poor guy like me and rob him of what he finds. What's the news from down +below?" + +"Oh, nothing," answered Billy, and stood watching him doubtfully as he +unsaddled and turned out his gaunted mules. His new black hat was +sweated through already and his clothes were salt-stained and worn, but +it was the look in his eye even more than his clothes which convinced +her he had had a hard trip. He was close-mouthed and grim and the old +rollicking smile seemed to have been lost beneath a two weeks' growth of +beard. Perhaps she had done wrong to speak of the dog first, but she +knew there was something behind. + +"Did you have a fight with Mr. Lynch?" she asked at last, and he darted +a quick glance and said nothing. "Because when he went through here," +she went on finally, "he seemed to be awful quarrelsome." + +"Yes, he's quarrelsome," admitted Wunpost, "but so am I. You wait till I +tangle with him, sometime." + +"You're hungry!" she declared, still gazing at him fixedly, and he gave +way to a twisted grin. + +"How'd you guess it?" he inquired; but she did not tell him, for of +course they were supposed to be friends. Yes, good friends, and +more--she had let him kiss her once, but now he seemed to have forgotten +it. He ate supper greedily and went back to the corral to sleep, and in +the morning he was gone. + +The early-risers at Blackwater, out to look for their burros or to get a +little eye-opener at the saloon, were astonished to see his mules in the +adobe corral and Wunpost himself on the street. He was reputed to be in +hiding from Pisen-face Lynch, who had been inquiring for him for over a +week; and the news was soon passed to Lynch himself, for Blackwater had +a grudge against Wunpost. He had made the town, yes, in a manner of +speaking--for of course he had discovered the Willie Meena Mine and +brought in Eells and the boomers--but never to their knowledge had he +spoken a good word of them, or of anything else in town. He came +swaggering down their streets as if he owned the place, or had enough +money to buy it--and besides, he had led them on two disastrous +stampedes in which no one had even located a claim. And the Stinging +Lizard Mine was salted! Hence their haste to tell Lynch and the +malevolent zeal with which they maneuvered to bring them together. + +Wunpost was standing before the Express office, waiting for the agent to +open up and receive his ore-sacks for shipment, when he espied his enemy +advancing, closely followed by an expectant crowd. Lynch was still +haggard and emaciated from his hard trip through Death Valley, and his +face had the pallor of indoors; but his small, hateful eyes seemed to +burn in their sockets and he walked with venomous quickness. But Wunpost +stood waiting, his head thrust out and his gun pulled well to the front, +and Lynch came to a sudden halt. + +"So there you are!" he burst out accusingly, "you low-down, poisoning +whelp! You poisoned that water, you know you did, and I've a danged good +mind to kill ye!" + +"Hop to it!" invited Wunpost, "just git them rubbernecks away. I ain't +scared of you or nobody!" + +He paused, and the rubbernecks betook themselves away, but Pisen-face +Lynch did not shoot. He stood in the street, shifting his feet uneasily, +and Wunpost opened the vials of scorn. + +"You're bad, ain't you?" he taunted. "You're so bad your face hurts you, +but you can't run no blazer on me. And just because you chased me clean +down into Death Valley you don't need to think I'm afraid. I was just +showing you up as a desert-man, et cetery, but if any man had told me +you'd drink that poisoned water I'd've said he was crazy with the heat. +You're a lovely looking specimen of humanity! What's the matter--didn't +you like them Epsom salts?" + +"There was arsenic in that water!" charged Pisen-face fiercely. "I had +it analyzed--you were trying to kill me!" + +"Why, sure there was arsenic," returned Wunpost mockingly, "don't you +know that rank, fishy smell? But don't blame me--it was God Almighty +that threw the mixture together. And didn't I leave you a drink in that +empty can? Well, where is your proper gratitude?" + +He ogled him sarcastically and Lynch took a step forward, only to halt +as Wunpost stepped to meet him. + +"That's all right!" threatened Lynch, his voice tremulous with rage and +weakness. "You wait till I git back my strength. I'll fix you for this, +you dirty, poisoning coward--you led me to that spring on purpose!" + +"Yes, and you followed, you sucker!" returned Wunpost insultingly; "even +your Injun had better sense than that. What did you expect me to +do--leave you a canteen of good water so you could trail me up and pot +me? No, you can consider yourself lucky I didn't shoot you like a dog +for following me off the trail. I gave you the road--what did you want +to follow _me_ for? By grab, it looked danged bad!" + +"I'll go where I please!" declared Lynch defiantly. "You're hiding a +mine that belongs to Mr. Eells and my instructions were to follow you +and find it." + +"Well, if you'd followed your instructions," returned Wunpost easily, +"you sure would have found a mine. Do you see these two bags? Plum full +of ore that I dug since I gave you the shake. Go back and report that to +your boss." + +"You're a liar!" snarled Lynch, but his eyes were on the ore-sacks and +now they were gleaming with envy. And other eyes also were suddenly +focussed on the gold, at which Wunpost surveyed the crowd intolerantly. + +"You're a prize bunch of prospectors," he announced as from the +housetops. "Why don't you get out in the hills and rustle? That's the +way I got my start. But you Blackwater stiffs want to hang around town +and let somebody else do the work. All you want is a chance to stake an +extension on some big strike, so you can sell it to some promoter from +Los!" + +He grunted contemptuously and picked up the two big sacks while the +citizens of Blackwater sneered back at him. + +"Aw, bull!" scoffed one, "you ain't got no gold! And if you have, by +grab, you stole it. What about the Stinging Lizard?" + +"Well, _what_ about it?" retorted Wunpost, giving his bags to the +Express agent, "----put down the value on that at seven thousand +dollars." This last was aside to the inquiring Express agent, but the +crowd heard it and burst out hooting. + +"Seven thousands _cents_!" yelled a voice; "you never _saw_ +seven thousand dollars! You're a bull-shover and your mine was salted!" + +"Sure it was salted!" agreed Wunpost, laughing exultantly, "but you +Blackwater stiffs will bite at anything. Did _I_ ever claim it was +a mine? I'm a bull-shover, am I? Well, when did I ever come here and try +to sell somebody a mine? No; I came into town with some Sockdolager ore, +and you dastards all tried to get me drunk; and I finally made a deal +with the barkeep at The Mint to show him the place for a thousand dollar +bill. Well, didn't I show him the place--and didn't he come back more +than satisfied with his pockets bursting out with the gold? _He_ +never had no kick--I met him in Los Angeles and he told me he had sold +the rock for thirteen hundred dollars to a jeweler. But say, my friends, +don't you think I knew where he would go to get that thousand dollar +bill? Do you think I was so drunk I expected a barkeeper to have +thousand dollar bills in his pocket? No; I knowed who he would go to, +and Eells gave him the bill and a pocket full of Boston beans; but he +lost them on the road, so I brought him down Jail Canyon and old-scout +Lynch here, he followed my tracks! + +"Wasn't that wonderful, now? He followed our tracks back and he found +the Stinging Lizard Mine--and then, of course, he jumped it! That's his +job, when he ain't licking old Judson Eells' boots or framing up some +crooked deal with Flappum; and then he went back and told Eells. And +then Eells--you know him--being as he'd stole the mine from me, like all +crooks he thought it was valuable. Was it up to me then to go to Mr. +Eells and tell him that the mine was salted? Would _you_ have done +it--would _anybody_? Well, he thought he had me cinched, and I sold +out for twenty thousand dollars. And now, my friend, you said a moment +ago that I'd never _seen_ seven thousand dollars. All right, I say +_you_ never did! But just, by grab, to show you who's four-flushing +I'll put you out of your misery--I'll _show_ you seven thousand, +savvy?" + +He stuck out his head and gazed insolently into the man's face and then +drew out his wad of bills. They were badly sweated, but the numbers were +there--he peeled off seven bills and waved them airily, then laughed and +shoved them into his overalls. + +"Tuh hell with you!" he burst out defiantly, consigning all Blackwater +to perdition with one grand, oratorical flourish. "You think you're so +smart," he went on tauntingly, "now come and trail me to my mine. If you +find it you can have it--it ain't even staked--but they ain't one of you +dares to follow me. I ain't afraid of Eells and his hired yaller dog, +and I ain't afraid of _you_! I'll take you _all_ on--old Eells +and all the rest of you--and I ain't afraid to show you the ore!" + +He strode into the Express office and grabbed up a sack, which he cut +open with a slash of his knife; and then he reached in and took out a +great chunk that bulged and gleamed with gold. + +"Am I four-flushing?" he inquired, and when no one answered he grunted +and tied up the hole. There was a silence, and the crowd began to filter +away--all but Lynch, who stood staring like an Indian. Then he too +turned away, his haggard eyes blinking fast, like a woman on the verge +of bitter tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DIVINE PROVIDENCE + + +The thundercaps were gleaming like silver in the heat when Wunpost rode +back to Jail Canyon; but he came on almost merrily, a sopping bath-towel +about his neck and his shirt pulled out, like a Chinaman's. These were +the last days of September when the clouds which had gathered for months +at last were giving down their rain; and the air, now it was humid, +seemed to open every pore and make the sweat run in rivulets. Wunpost +perspired, but he was happy, and as he neared the silent house he +whistled shrilly for his dog. Good Luck came out for a moment, looked +down at him reproachfully, and crawled back under the house, Yes, it was +hot in the canyon, for the ridge cut off the wind and the rimrock +reflected yet more heat, but Wunpost was happy through it all. He had +told Blackwater where it could go. + +Not Eells and Lynch alone, but the citizens at large, collectively and +as individuals; and he had planted the seeds of envy and rage to rankle +in their hairy breasts. He had shown them his gold, to make them yearn +to find it, and his money to make them envy him his wealth; and then he +had left them to stew in their own juice, for Blackwater was as hot as +Jail Canyon. He was riding a horse now, and, in addition to Old Walker, +he had a third mule, heavily packed; and he was headed for the hills to +hide still more food and water against the chase that was sure to come. +Sooner or later they would follow on his trail, those petty, hateful +souls who now sat in the barrooms and gasped like fish for breath; but +they were waiting, forsooth, for the weather to cool down and the +cloudbursts to finish their destruction. And that was the very reason +why they would never find his mine--they were afraid to take his +chances. + +Mrs. Campbell and Wilhelmina were out on the back porch, which had been +sprinkled until it was almost cool; and when Wunpost had unpacked and +put his mules in the corral he came up the hill and joined them. +Wilhelmina had returned to her proper sphere, being clothed in the +filmiest of gowns; and poor Mrs. Campbell, who was nearly prostrated by +the heat, allowed her to entertain the company. They sat in the dense +shade of the umbrella trees and creepers, within easy reach of a +dripping olla; and after taking a huge drink, which started the sweat +again, Wunpost sank down on the cool dirt floor. + +"It ain't so hot here!" he began encouragingly; "you ought to be down in +Blackwater. Say, the wind off that Sink would make your hair curl. I +scared a lizard out of the shade and he hadn't run ten feet till he +disappeared in a puff of smoke. His pardner turned over and started to +lick his toes----" + +"Yes, it does look like rain," observed Billy with a twinkle. "How long +since _you_ started to herd lizards?" + +"Who--me?" inquired Wunpost. "W'y, I'm telling you the truth. But say, +it does look like rain. If they'd only spread it out, instead of dumping +it all in one place, it'd suit me better, personally. There was a +cloudburst last week hit into the canyon above me and I just made my +getaway in time, and where that water landed you'd think a hydraulic +sluice had been washing down the hill for a year. It all struck in one +place and gouged clean down to bedrock, and when she came by me there +was so much brush pushed ahead that it looked like a big, moving dam. +Where's your father--up getting out ore?" + +"Yes, he's up at the mine," spoke up Mrs. Campbell, "although I've +begged him not to work so hard. The heat is almost killing him, but he's +so thankful to have his road done that he won't delay a minute. He's +used up all his sacks, but he's still sorting the ore so that he can +load it right onto the trucks." + +"Yes, that's good," commented Wunpost, glancing furtively at Billy, "I +hope he makes a million. He deserves it--he's sure worked hard." + +"Yes, he has," responded Mrs. Campbell, "and I've always had faith in +him, but others have tried to discourage him. I believe I've heard you +say that his work was all wasted, but now everybody is envying him his +success. It all goes to show that the Lord cares for his own, and that +the righteous are not forgotten; because Cole has always said he would +rather be poor and honest than to own the greatest fortune in the land. +And now it seems as if the hand of Providence has just reached down and +given us our road--the Lord provides for his own." + +"Looks that way," agreed Wunpost; "sure treating _me_ fine, too. +There was a time, back there, when He seemed to have a copper on every +bet I played, but now luck is coming my way. Of course I don't deserve +it--and for that matter, I don't ask no odds--but this last mine I found +is a Sockdolager right, and Eells or none of 'em can't find it. I took +down one mule-load that was worth ten thousand dollars, and when I was +shipping it you should have seen them Blackwater bums looking on with +tears in their eyes. That's all right about the Lord providing for his +own, but I tell you hard work has got something to do with it, whether +you believe in religion or not. I'm a rustler, I'll say that, and I work +for what I get, just as hard as your husband or anyone----" + +"Ah, but Mister Calhoun," broke in Mrs. Campbell reproachfully, "we've +heard evil stories of your dealings with Eells. Not that we like him, +for we don't; but, so we are informed, the mine that you sold him was +salted." + +"Why, mother!" exclaimed Billy, but the fat was in the fire, for Wunpost +had nodded shamelessly. + +"Yes," he said, "the mine was salted, but don't let that keep you awake +nights. I didn't _sell_ him the mine--he took it away from me and +gave me twenty thousand for a quit-claim. And the twenty thousand +dollars was nothing to what I lost when he robbed me and Billy of our +mine." + +"Why--why, Mr. Calhoun!" cried Mrs. Campbell in a shocked voice, "did +you salt that mine on purpose?" + +"You'd have thought so," he returned, "if you'd seen me packing the ore. +It took me nigh onto two weeks." + +Mrs. Campbell paused and gasped, but Wunpost met her gaze with a cold, +unblinking stare. Her nice Scotch scruples were not for such as he, and +if she crowded him too far he had an answer to her reproaches which +would effectually reduce her to silence. But Billy knew that answer, and +the reason for the gleam which played like heat-lightning in his eyes, +and she hastened to stave off disaster. + +"Oh, mother!" she protested, "now please don't talk seriously to him or +he'll confess to almost anything. He told me a lot of stuff and I was +dreadfully worried about it, but I found out he only did it to tease me. +And besides, you know yourself that Mr. Eells did take advantage of us +and trick us out of our mine--and if it hadn't been for that we could +have built the road ourselves without being beholden to anybody." + +"But Billy, child!" she chided, "just think what you're saying. Is it +any excuse that others are dishonest? Well, I must say I'm surprised!" + +"Oh, you're surprised, are you?" spoke up Wunpost, rising ponderously to +his feet. "Well, if you don't like my style, just say so." + +He reached for his hat and stood waiting for the answer, but Mrs. +Campbell avoided the issue. + +"It is not for us to judge our neighbors--the Bible says: Judge not, +lest ye be judged--but I'm sorry, Mr. Calhoun, that you think so poorly +of us as to boast of the deception you practised. He's no friend of us, +this Judson Eells, but surely you cannot think it was aught but +dishonest to sell him a salted mine. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, +and because he took your property is no excuse for committing a crime." + +"A _crime_!" repeated Wunpost, and turned to look at Billy, who +hung her head regretfully. "Did you hear that?" he asked. "She says I'm +a criminal! Well, I won't bother you folks any more. But before I go, +Mrs. Campbell, I might as well tell you that these criminals sometimes +come in danged handy. Suppose I'd buried that ore in Happy Canyon, for +instance, or over the summit in Hanaupah--where would the Campbell +family be for a road? They wouldn't have one, _would_ they? And +this here Providence that you talk about would be distributing its +rewards to others. But there's too many good people for the rewards to +go around--that's why some of us get out and rustle. No, you want to be +thankful that a criminal came along and took a flyer at being Providence +himself; otherwise you'd be stuck with your mine on your hands--because +I gave you that road, myself." + +He started for the door and Mrs. Campbell let him go, for the revelation +had left her thunderstruck. Never for a moment had she doubted that the +sterling integrity of her husband had brought a special dispensation of +Providence, and while her faith in Divine Providence was by no means +shaken, she did begin to doubt the miracle. Perhaps, after all, this +loud and boastful Wunpost had been more than an instrument of +Providence--he might, in fact, have been a kindly but misguided friend, +who had shaped his vengeance to serve their special needs. For he knew +they needed the road and, since he could salt a crevice anywhere, he had +located his mine up their canyon. And then Eells had jumped the mine and +built the road, and----Well, really, after all, it was no more than +right to go out and thank him for his kindness. He was wrong, of course, +and led astray by angry passions; but Wilhelmina and he were friends +and----She rose up and hurried out after him. + +The blazing light in the heavens almost blinded her sight as she stepped +out into the sun; and high up above the peaks, like cones of burnished +metal, she saw two thundercaps, turning black at the base and mounting +on the superheated air. There was the hush in the air which she had +learned to associate with an explosion such as was about to take place, +and she looked back anxiously, for her husband was up the canyon and the +downpour might strike above Panamint. It was clouds such as these that +had come together before to form the cloudburst which had isolated their +mine, and though they now appeared daily she could never escape the fear +that once more they would send down their floods. Every day they struck +somewhere, and one more bone-dry canyon ran bank-high and spewed its +refuse across the plain, and each time she had the feeling that their +sins might be punished by another visitation from on high. But she only +glanced back once, for Wunpost was packing and Billy was looking on +hopelessly. + +"Oh, Mr. Calhoun!" she called, "please don't go up the canyon +now--there's a cloudburst forming above the peaks." + +"I'll make it," he grumbled, cocking his eye at the clouds--and then he +stopped and looked again. "There went lightning," he said; "that's a +mighty bad sign--they're stabbing out towards each other." + +"Yes, I'm sure you'd better stay," she went on apologetically, "and +please don't think you're not welcome. But oh! this heat is +terrible--I'll have to go back--but Billy will stop and help you." + +She raised her sunshade as if she were fleeing from a rain-storm and +hastened back out of the sun; and Wunpost, after a minute of careful +scrutiny, unpacked and squatted down in the shade. + +"They're moving together," he said to Billy, "and see that lightning +reaching out? This is going to bust the world open, somewhere. That's no +cloudburst that's shaping up, it's a regular old waterspout; I know by +the way she acts." + +He settled back on his heels to await the outcome, and as the thunder +began to roll he turned to his companion and shook his head in ominous +silence. There were but two clouds in the sky, all the rest was blazing +light; and these two clouds were moving slowly together, or rather, +towards a common center. One came on from the southeast, the other from +the west, and some invisible force seemed to be drawing them towards the +peaks which marked the summit of the Panamints. The play of the +lightning became almost constant, the rumbling rose to a tumult; and +then, as if caught by resistless hands, the two clouds rushed together. +There was a flash of white light, a sudden blackening of the mass, and +as Wunpost leapt up shouting a writhing funnel reached down as if +feeling for the palpitating earth. + +"There she goes!" he cried; "it's a waterspout, all right--but it ain't +going to land near here." + +He talked on, half to himself, as the great spiral reached and +lengthened; and then he shouted again, for it had struck the ground, +though where it was impossible to tell. The high rim of the canyon cut +off all but the high peaks, and they could see nothing but the +waterspout now; and it, as if stabilized by its contact with the earth, +had turned into a long line of black. It was a column of falling water, +and the two clouds, which had joined, seemed to be discharging their +contents down a hole. They were sucked into the vortex, now turned an +inky black, and their millions of tons of water were precipitated upon +one spot, while all about the ground was left dry. + +Wunpost knew what was happening, for he had seen it once before, and as +he watched the rain descend he imagined the spot where it fell and the +wreck which would follow its flood. For the Panamints are set on edge +and shed rain like a roof, the water all flowing off at once; and when +they strike a canyon, after rushing down the converging gulches, there +is nothing that can withstand their violence. Every canyon in the range, +and in the Funeral Range beyond, and in Tin Mountain and the Grapevines +to the north--every one of them had been swept by the floods from the +heights and ripped out as clean as a sand-wash. And this waterspout, +which had turned into a mighty cloudburst, would sweep one of them clean +again. The question was--which one? + +A breeze, rising suddenly, came up from the Sink and was sucked into the +vortex above; the black line of the downfall turned lead-color and +broadened out until it merged into the clouds above; and at last, as +Wunpost lingered, the storm disappeared and the canyon took on the hush +of heavy waiting. The sun blazed out as before, the fig-leaves hung down +wilted; but the humidity was gone and the dry, oven-heat almost created +the illusion of coolness. + +"Well, I'm going," announced Wunpost, for the third or fourth time. "She +must have come down away north." + +"No--wait!" protested Billy, "why are you always in such a hurry? And +perhaps the flood hasn't come yet." + +"It'd be here," he answered, "been an hour, by my watch; and believe me, +that old boy would be coming some. Excuse _me_, if it should hit +into one end of a box canyon while I was coming up the other. My friends +could omit the flowers." + +"Well, why not stay, then?" she pouted anxiously; "you know Mother +didn't mean anything. And perhaps Father will be down, to see if there +was any damage done, and we could catch him first and explain." + +"No explaining for me!" returned Wunpost, beginning to pack; "you can +tell them whatever you want. And if your folks are too religious to use +my old road maybe the Lord will send a cloudburst and destroy it. That's +the way He always did in them old Bible stories----" + +"You oughten to talk that way!" warned Wilhelmina soberly, "and besides, +that's what made Mother angry. She isn't feeling well, and when you +spoke slightingly of Divine Providence----" + +"Well, I'm going," he said again, "before I begin to quarrel with +_you_. But, oh say, I want to get that dog." + +"Oh, it's too hot!" she protested, "let him stay under the house. He and +Red are sleeping there together." + +"No, I need him," he grumbled, "liable to be bushwhacked now, any time; +and I want a dog to guard camp at night." + +He started towards the house, still looking up the canyon, and at the +gate he stopped dead and listened. + +"What's that?" he asked, and glanced about wildly, but Billy only shook +her head. + +"I don't hear anything," she replied, turning listlessly away, "but I +wish you wouldn't go." + +"Well, maybe I won't," he answered grimly, "don't you hear that kind of +rumble, up the canyon?" + +She listened again, then rushed towards the house while Wunpost made a +dash for the corral. The cloudburst was coming down their canyon. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ANSWER + + +The rumbling up the canyon was hardly a noise; it was a tremulous +shudder of earth and air like the grinding that accompanies an +earthquake. But Wunpost knew, and the Campbells knew, what it meant and +what was to follow; and as it increased to a growl they threw down the +corral bars and rushed the stock up to the high ground. They waited, and +Wunpost ran back to get his dog, and then the dammed waters broke loose. +A great spray of yellow mud splashed out from Corkscrew Gorge and a +pinon-trunk was snapped high into the air; and while all the earth +trembled the dam of mud burst forth, forced on by the weight of +backed-up waters. Then more trees came smashing through, followed by +muddy tides of driftwood, and as suddenly the debacle ceased. + +There was quiet, except for the hoarse rumble of boulders as they ground +their way down through the Gorge; and for the muffled crack of submerged +tree-trunks, straining and breaking beneath the ever-mounting jamb. It +rose up and overflowed in a gush of turbid waters, rose still higher and +overflowed again; and then it broke loose in a crash like imminent +thunder--the cloudburst had conquered the Gorge. It went through it and +over it, spreading out on its sloping sides; and when the worst crush +seemed over it washed higher yet and came through with an all-devouring +surge. In a flash the whole creekbed was a mass of mud and driftwood, +which swashed about and swayed drunkenly on; and, as great tree-boles +came battering through, the jamb broke abruptly and spewed out a sea of +yellow water. + +The fugitives climbed up higher, followed by the cat and dog, and the +burros which had been left in the corrals; but the flood bore swiftly +on, leaving the ranch unsullied by its burden of brush and mud. The jamb +broke down again, letting out a second gush of water which crept up +among the lower trees, but just as the Gorge opened up for the third +time the flood-crest struck the lower gorge and stopped. Once more the +trees and logs which had formed the jamb above bobbed and floated on the +surface of a pond; and while the Campbells gazed and wept the turbid +flood swung back swiftly, inundating their ranch with its mud. + +First the orchard was overflowed, then the garden above the road, then +the corrals and the flowers by the gate; and as they ran about +distracted the water crept up towards the house and out over the verdant +alfalfa. But just when it seemed as if the whole ranch would be +destroyed there was a smash from the lower point; the jamb went out, +draining the waters quickly away and rushing on towards the Sink. The +great mass of mud and boulders which had been brought down by the flood +ceased to spread out and cover their fields, and as the millrace of +waters continued to pour down the canyon it began to dig a new streambed +in the debris. Then the thunder of its roaring subsided by degrees and +by sundown the cloudburst was past. + +Where the creek had been before there was a wider and deeper creek, its +sides cumbered with huge boulders and tree-trunks; and the mixture of +silt and gravel which formed its cut banks already had set like cement. +It _was_ cement, the same natural concrete which Nature combines +everywhere on the desert--gravel and lime and bone-dry clay, sluiced and +mixed by the passing cloudburst and piled up to set into pudding-stone. +And all the mud which had overlaid the garden and orchard was setting +like a concrete pavement. The ancient figs and peach-trees, half buried +in the slime, rose up stiffly from the fertile soil beneath; and the +Jail Canyon Ranch, once so flamboyantly green, was now shore-lined with +a blotch of dirty gray. Only the alfalfa patch remained, and the house +on the hill--everything else was either washed away or covered with +gravel and dirt. And the road--it was washed away too. + +Wunpost worked late and hard, shoveling the muck away from the trees and +clearing a section of the corral; but not until Cole Campbell came down +the next day was the Stinging Lizard road even mentioned. It was gone, +they all knew that, and all their prayers and tears could not bring back +one rock from its grade; and yet somehow Wunpost felt guilty, as if his +impious words had brought down this disaster upon his friends. He rushed +feverishly about in the blazing sun, trying to undo the most imminent +damage; and Billy and Mrs. Campbell, half divining his futile regrets, +went about their own tasks in silence. But when Campbell came down over +the mountain-sheep trail and beheld what the cloudburst had done he +spoke what came first into his mind. + +"Ah, my road," he moaned, talking half to himself after the manner of +the lonely and deaf, "and I let it lie idle six weeks! All my ore still +sacked and waiting on the dump, and now my road is gone." + +He bowed his head and gave way to tears, for he had lost ten years' work +in a day, and then Mrs. Campbell forgot. She had remained silent before, +not wishing to seem unkind, but now she spoke from her heart. + +"It's a visitation!" she wailed; "the Lord has punished us for our sins. +We should never have used the road." + +"And why not?" demanded Campbell, rousing up from his brooding, and he +saw Wunpost turning guiltily away. "Ah, I knew it!" he burst out; "I +misdoubted it all the time, but you thought you could keep it from me. +But when I came down from Panamint, to see where the waterspout had +struck, and found it tearing in from Woodpecker Canyon, I said: 'It is +the hand of God!' We had not come by our road quite honestly." + +"No," sobbed Mrs. Campbell, "and I hate to say it, but I'm glad the road +is destroyed. What you built we came by honestly, but the rest was +obtained by fraud, and now it has all been destroyed. You have worked +long and hard, Cole, and I'm sorry this had to happen; but God is not +mocked, we know that. I tried to keep it from you, and to keep myself +from knowing; but he told me himself that he salted the mine on purpose, +so that Eells would build us a road!" + +"Aha!" nodded Campbell, and looked out from under his eyebrows at the +man who had befriended him by fraud. But he was a man of few words, and +his silence spoke for him--Wunpost scuffled his feet and withdrew. + +"Well I'm going," he announced to Billy as he threw on his packs; "this +is getting too rough for me. So I crabbed the whole play, eh, and +fetched that cloudburst down Woodpecker? And it washed out your father's +road! It's a wonder Divine Providence didn't ketch _me_ up the +canyon, and wipe me off the footstool, too!" + +"Perhaps He spared you," suggested Billy, whose eyes were big with awe, +"so you could repent and be forgiven of your sins." + +"I bet ye!" scoffed Wunpost; "but you can't tell _me_ that God +Almighty was steering that waterspout. It just hit in Woodpecker Canyon, +same as one hit Hanaupah last week and another one washed out down +below. They're falling every day, but I'm going up into them hills, and +do you reckon one will drop on me? Don't you think it--God Almighty has +got more important business than following me around through the hills. +I'm going to take my little dog, so I'll be sure to have Good Luck; and +if I don't come back you'll know somebody has got me, that's all." + +He tightened his lash ropes viciously, mounted his horse and took the +lead, followed by Old Walker and the other mules, packed; and when he +whistled for Good Luck, to Billy's surprise the little terrier went +bounding off after him. She waved at him furtively and tried to toll him +back, but his devotion to his master was still just as strong as it had +been when he had adopted him in Los Angeles. When he had been prostrated +by the heat he had stayed with Billy gladly, but now that he was strong +and accustomed to the climate he raced along after the mules. Wunpost +looked back and grinned, then he reached down a hand and swooped his dog +up into the saddle. + +"You can't steal him!" he hooted, and Billy bit her lip, for she thought +she had weaned him from his master. And Wunpost--she had thought he was +tamed to her hand, but he too had gone off and left her. He was still as +wild and ruthless as on the day they had first met, when he had been +chasing Dusty Rhodes with a stone; and now he was heading off into the +high places he was so fond of, to play hide-and-seek with his pursuers. +Several had come up already, ostensibly to view the ruin but undoubtedly +to keep Wunpost in sight; and if he continued his lawless strife she +doubted if the good Lord would preserve him, as He had from the +cloudburst. + +Time and again he had mounted to go and each time she had held him back, +for she had sensed some imminent disaster; and now, as he rode off, she +felt the prompting again to run after him and call him back. But he +would not come back, he was headstrong and unrepentant, making light of +what others held sacred; and as she watched him out of sight something +told her again that he was going out to meet his doom. Some great +punishment was hanging over him, to chastise him for his sins and bring +him, perhaps, to repentance; but she could no more stop his going, or +turn him aside from his purpose, than she could control the rush of a +cloudburst. He was like a force of nature--a rude, fighting creature who +beat down opposition as the flood struck down bushes, rushing on to seek +new worlds to conquer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A LESSON + + +The heat-wave, which had made even the desert-dwellers pant, came to an +end with the Jail Canyon waterspout; the nights became bearable, the +rocks cooled off and the sun ceased to strike through men's clothes. But +there was one, still clinging to her faded bib-overalls, who took no joy +in the blessed release. Wilhelmina was worried, for the sightseers from +Blackwater had disappeared as soon as Wunpost rode away; and now, two +days later, his dog had come back, meeching and whining and licking its +feet. Good Luck had left Wunpost and returned to the ranch, where he was +sure of food and a friend; but now that he was fed he begged and +whimpered uneasily and watched every move that she made. And every time +that she started towards the trail where Wunpost had ridden away he +barked and ran eagerly ahead. Billy stood it until noon, then she caught +up Tellurium and rode off after the dog. + +He led up the trail, where he had run so often before, but over the +ridge he turned abruptly downhill and Billy refused to follow. Wunpost +certainly had taken the upper trail, for there were his tracks leading +on; and the dog, after all, had no notion of leading her to his master. +He was still young and inexperienced, though with that thoroughbred +smartness which set him apart from the ordinary cur; but when she made +as though to follow he cut circles with delight and ran along enticingly +in front of her. So Billy rode after him, and at the foot of the hill +she found mule-tracks heading off north. Wunpost had made a wide detour +and come back, probably at night, to throw off his pursuers and start +fresh; but as she followed the tracks she found where several horse +tracks had circled and cut into his trail. She picked up Good Luck, who +was beginning to get footsore, and followed the mule-tracks at a lope. + +Near the mouth of the canyon they struck out over the mud, which the +cloudburst had spread out for miles, but now they were across and going +down the slope which a thousand previous floods had laid. Ahead lay Warm +Springs, where the Indians sometimes camped; but the trail cut out +around them and headed for Fall Canyon, the next big valley to the +north. She rode on steadily, her big pistol that Wunpost had once +borrowed now back in its accustomed place; and the fact that she had +failed to tell her parents of her intentions did not keep her from +taking up the hunt. Wunpost was in trouble, and she knew it; and now she +was on her way, either to find him or to make sure he was safe. + +The trail up Fall Canyon twists and winds among wash boulders, over +cut-banks and up sandy gulches; but at the mouth of the canyon it +plunges abruptly into willow-brush and leads on up the bed of a dry +creek. Once more the steep ridges closed in and made deep gorges, the +hillsides were striped with blues and reds; and along the ancient trail +there were tunnels and dumps of rock where prospectors had dug in for +gold. There were dog tracks in the mud showing where Good Luck had come +down, and she knew Wunpost must be up there somewhere; but when she came +upon a mule, lying down under his pack, she started and clutched at her +gun. The mule jumped up noisily and ran smashing through the willows, +then turned with a terrifying snort; and as she drew rein and stopped +Good Luck sprang to the ground and rushed silently off up the canyon. + +Billy followed along cautiously, driving the snorting mule before her +and looking for something she feared to find. A buzzard rose up slowly, +flopping awkwardly to clear the canyon wall, and her heart leapt once +and stood still. There in the open lay Wunpost's horse, its sharp-shod +feet in the air, and there was a bullet-hole through its side. She +stopped and looked about, at the ridge, at the sky, at the knife-like +gash ahead; and then she set her teeth and spurred up the canyon to +where the dog had set up a yapping. + +He was standing by a tunnel at the edge of the creek, wagging his tail +and waiting expectantly; and when she came in sight he dashed half-way +to meet her and turned back to the hole in the hill. She rode up to its +mouth, her eyes straining into the darkness, her breath coming in short, +quick gasps; and Tellurium, advancing slowly, suddenly flew back and +snorted as a voice came out from the depths. + +"Hello, there!" it hailed; "say, bring me a drink of water. This is +Calhoun--I'm shot in the leg." + +"Well, what are you hiding in there for?" burst out Billy as she +dismounted; "why don't you crawl out and get some yourself?" + +Now that she knew he was alive a swift impatience swept over her, an +unreasoning anger that he had caused her such a fright, and as she +unslung her canteen and started for the tunnel her stride was almost +vixenish. But when she found him stretched out on the bare, uneven rocks +with one bloody leg done up in bandages, she knelt down suddenly and +held out the canteen, which he seized and almost drained at one drink. + +"Fine! Fine!" he smacked; "began to think you wasn't coming--did you +bring along that medicine I wrote for?" + +"Why, what medicine?" exclaimed Billy. "No, I didn't find a note--Good +Luck must have lost it on the way." + +"Well, never mind," he said; "just catch one of my mules and we'll go +back to the ranch after dark." + +"But who shot you?" clamored Billy, "and what are you in here for? We'll +start back home right now!" + +"No we won't!" he vetoed; "there's some Injuns up above there and +they're doing their best to git me. You can't see 'em--they're hid--but +when I showed myself this noon some dastard took a crack at me with his +Winchester. Did you happen to bring along a little grub?" + +"Why, yes," assented Billy, and went out in a kind of trance--it was so +unreasonable, so utterly absurd. Why should Indians be watching to shoot +down Wunpost when he had always been friendly with them all? And for +that matter, why should anyone desire to kill him--that certainly could +never lead them to his mine. The men who had come to the ranch were +Blackwater prospectors--she knew them all by sight--and if it was they +who had followed him she was absolutely sure that Wunpost had started +the fight. She stepped out into the dazzling sunshine and looked up at +the ridges that rose tier by tier above her, but she had no fear either +of white men or Indians, for she had done nothing to make them her +enemies. Whoever they were, she knew she was safe--but Wunpost was +hiding in a cave. All his bravado gone, he was afraid to venture out +even to wet his parched throat at the creek. + +"What were you doing?" she demanded when she had given him her lunch, +and Wunpost reared up at the challenge. + +"I was riding along that trail," he answered defiantly, "and I wasn't +doing a thing. And then a bullet came down and got me through the leg--I +didn't even hear the shot. All I know is I was riding and the next thing +I knew I was down and my horse was laying on my leg. I got out from +under him somehow and jumped over into the brush, and I've been hiding +here ever since. But it's Lynch that's behind it--I know that for a +certainty--he's hired some of these Injuns to bushwhack me." + +"Have you seen them?" she asked unbelievingly. + +"No, and I don't need to," he retorted. "I guess I know Injuns by this +time. That's just the way they work--hide out on some ridge and pot a +man when he goes by. But they're up there, I know it, because one of +them took a shot at me this noon--and anyhow I can just _feel_ +'em!" + +"Well, _I_ can't," returned Billy, "and I don't believe they're +there; and if they are they won't hurt me. They all know me too well, +and we've always been good to them. I'm going up to catch your mules." + +"No, look out!" warned Wunpost; "them devils are treacherous, and I +wouldn't put it past 'em to shoot you. But you wait till I get this leg +of mine fixed and I'll make some of 'em hard to ketch!" + +"Now you see what you get," burst out Billy heartlessly, "for taking Mr. +Lynch to Poison Spring. I'm sorry you're shot, but when you get well I +hope this will be a lesson to you. Because if it wasn't for your dog, +and me running away from home, you never would get away from here +alive." + +"Well, for cripes' sake!" roared Wunpost, "don't you think I know that +now? What's the use of rubbing it in? And you're dead right it'll be a +lesson--I'll ride the ridges, after this, and the next time I'll try to +shoot first. But you go up the canyon and throw the packs off them mules +and bring me Old Walker to ride. I ain't crippled; I'm all right, but +this leg is sure hurting me and I believe I'll take a chance. Saddle him +up and we'll start for the ranch." + +Billy stepped out briskly, half smiling at his rage and at the straits +to which his anger had brought him; but when she heard his heavy +groaning as she helped him into the saddle her woman's heart was +touched. After all he was just a child, a big reckless boy, still +learning the hard lessons of life; and it had certainly been treacherous +for the assassin to shoot him without even giving him a chance. She rode +close beside him as they went down the canyon, to protect him from +possible bullets; and if Wunpost divined her purpose it did not prevent +him from keeping her between him and the ridge. The wound and the long +wait had shattered his nerves and made him weak and querulous, and he +cursed softly whenever he hit his sore leg; but back at the ranch his +spirits revived and he insisted upon going on to Blackwater. + +Cole Campbell had cleaned his wound and drenched it well with dilute +carbolic, but though it was clean and would heal in a few days, Wunpost +demanded to be taken to town. He was restless and uneasy in the presence +of these people, whose standards were so different from his own; but +behind it all there was some hidden purpose which urged him on to Los +Angeles. It was shown in the set lips, the stern brooding stare and his +impatience with his motion-impeding leg; but to Billy it was shown most +by his oblivious glances and the absence of all proper gratitude. She +had done a brave deed in following his dog back and in rescuing him from +the bullets of his enemies, but when she drew near and tried to engage +him in conversation his answers were mostly in monosyllables. Only once +did he rouse up, and that was when she said that Lynch was even with him +now, and the look in his eyes gave Billy to understand that he was not +even with Lynch. That was it--he was unrepentant, he was brooding +revenge, he was planning even more desperate deeds; but he would not +tell her, or even admit that he was worried about anything but his leg. +It was hurting him, he said, and he wanted a good doctor to see it +before it grew worse; but when he went away he avoided her eye and Billy +ran off and wept. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TAINTED MONEY + + +A month passed by and the haze above the Sink lifted its shroud and +revealed the mountains beyond; the soft blues and pinks crept back into +the distance and the shadowy canyons were filled with royal purple. At +dawn a silver radiance rose and glowed along the east and the sunsets +stained the west with orange and gold; there was wine in the cool air, +and when the night wind came up the prospectors crouched over their +fires. The first October storm put a crown on Telescope Peak and tipped +the lesser Panamints with snow, but still Wilhelmina waited and Wunpost +did not return from his mysterious trip "inside." + +The time was not ripe for his notable revenge and he had forgotten Jail +Canyon and her. Yet at last she saw his dust, and as she watched him +through her glasses something told her that his thoughts were not of +her. He was on his way, either seeking after gold or searching out the +means of revenge; and if he came that way it was to find his dog and +mules and not to make love to her. Their ranch was merely his half-way +house, a place to feed his animals and leave them when he went away; and +she was only a child, to be noticed like a fond dog, but not to be taken +seriously. Billy put up her glasses and went back to the house, and when +he arrived she was a woman. Her hair was done up gracefully, her nimble +limbs were confined in skirts; and she smiled at him demurely, as if her +mind was far away and he had recalled her from maidenly dreams. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Wunpost as he limped up to the house and +discovered her on the shady front porch; "where's the trusty +bib-overalls and all? What's the matter--is it Sunday, or did you see my +dust? Say, you don't look right without them curls!" + +"We're thinking of moving away," she explained quite truthfully, "and I +can't wear overalls then." + +"Moving away!" cried Wunpost; "why, where were you thinking of going to? +Has your father given up on his road?" + +"Well, no--or that is, he's working on a trail to pack down the ore he +had sacked. And after that's shipped, if it pays him what it ought, +we're going to move inside." + +"Oh," observed Wunpost and sat down on the porch, where he rumpled his +hair reflectively. "Say," he said at last, "I've got a little +roll--what's the matter if _I_ build the road?" + +"Shh!" she hissed, moving over and speaking low; "don't you know that +Mother wouldn't hear to it? And poor Father, he feels awful bad." + +"No, but look," he protested, "you folks have been my friends, and I owe +you for taking care of my mules. I'd be glad to advance the money to put +in an aerial tramway and you could pay it back out of the ore. That's +the kind of road you want, one that will never wash out, and I know +where you can get one cheap. There's one down by Goler that you can buy +for almost nothing--I stopped and looked it over, coming up. And all you +have to do, after you once get it installed, is to feed your ore into +the buckets and send them down the canyon and the empties will come up +with your supplies. It's automatic--works itself, and can't get out of +order--just a long, double cable, swinging down from point to point and +supplying its own power by gravity. Some class to that, and I tell you +what I'll do--I'll lend the money to _you_!" + +"No!" she said as he reached down into his pocket, and she gazed at him +reproachfully. + +"What do you mean?" he asked after a minute of puzzled silence, and she +shook her head and pointed towards the house. Then she rose up quietly +and led off down the path where the hollyhocks were still in full bloom. + +"You know what I mean," she said at the gate; "have you forgotten about +the cloudburst?" + +"Why, no," he returned; "you don't mean to say----" + +"Yes, I do," she replied, "they think your money is accursed. Father +says you didn't come by it honestly." + +"Oh, he does, eh?" sulked Wunpost; "and what do you think about it?" + +"I think the same," she answered promptly and looked him straight in the +eye. + +"Well, well," he began with a sardonic smile, and then he thrust out his +lip. "All right, kid," he said, "excuse me for living, but I wouldn't be +that good if I could. It takes all the roar out of life. Now here I came +back with some money in my pocket, to make you a little present, and the +first thing you hand me is this: 'My money ain't come by honestly.' +Well, that's the end of the present." + +He shrugged his shoulders and waited, but Billy made no reply. + +"I went up into the hills," he went on at last, "and discovered a vein +of gold--nobody had ever owned it before. And I dug it out and showed +the ore to Eells and asked him if he thought it was his. No, he said he +couldn't claim it. Well, I took it to Los Angeles and sold it to a +jeweler and here's the money he paid me for it--don't you think that +money is honest?" + +He drew out a sheaf of bills and flicked the ends temptingly, but Billy +shook her head. + +"No," she said, "because you don't dare to show the place where you +claim you dug up that gold--and you told Mr. Eells you _stole_ it!" + +"Heh, heh!" chuckled Wunpost, "you keep right up with me, kid. Don't +reckon I can give you any present. I was just thinking you might like to +take a trip to Los Angeles, and see the bright lights and all--taking +your mother along, and so forth--but it's Jail Canyon for you, for life. +If this thousand dollar bill that you earned by saving my life is +nothing but tainted money, all I can do is to tender a vote of thanks. +It must be fierce to have a Scotch conscience." + +"You mind your own business," answered Billy shortly, and brushed away a +furtive tear. A trip to Los Angeles--and new clothes and everything--and +she really had earned the money! Yes, she had saved his life and enabled +him to come back to dig up some more hidden gold. But it was stolen, and +there was an end to it--she turned away abruptly, but he caught her by +the hand. + +"Say, listen, kid," he said; "I may not be an angel, but I never go back +on a friend. Now you tell me what you want and, no matter what it is, +I'll go out and get it for you--honestly. You're the best friend I've +got--and you sure look swell, dressed up in them women's clothes--but I +want you to have a good time. I want you to go inside and see the world, +and go to the theaters and all, but how'm I going to slip you the +money?" + +Billy laughed, rather hysterically, and then she turned grave and her +eyes looked far away. + +"All I want," she said at last, "is a road up Father's canyon--and I +know he won't accept it from you. So let's talk about something else. +Are you going back to your mine?" + +He sighed, then glanced up at the ridge and nodded his head +mysteriously. + +"There's somebody after me," he said at last. "They follow me up now, +every place. In town it's detectives, and out here on the desert it's +Pisen-face Lynch and his gang. But I don't mind them--I'm looking for +that feller that shot me in the leg last month. It wasn't Lynch--I've +had him traced--and it wasn't none of those Shooshonnies; but there's +some feller in these hills that's out after my scalp and I've come back +to get him. And when I find him, kid, I'll light a fire under him +that'll burn 'im off the face of the earth. I'm going to kill him, by +grab, the same as I would a rattlesnake; I'm going to----" + +"Oh, please don't talk that way!" broke in Wilhelmina impatiently, "it +gives people a bad impression. There isn't a man in Blackwater that +isn't firmly convinced that you're nothing but a bag of hot air. Well, I +don't care--that's just what they said!" + +"Ahhr!" scoffed Wunpost, "them Blackwater stiffs. They're jealous, +that's what's the matter." + +"No, but don't talk that way," she pleaded. "It turns folks against you. +Even Father and Mother have noticed it. You're always telling of the big +things you're going to do----" + +"Well, don't I _do_ 'em?" he demanded. "What did I ever say I'd do +that I didn't make good, in the end? Don't you think I'm going to get +this bad _hombre_--this feller that's following me through the +hills? Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. If I don't bring you his hair +inside of a month--you can have my mine and everything. But I'm going to +_git_ him, see? I'm going to toll him across the Valley, where +he'll have to come out into the open, and when I ketch him I'm going to +scalp him. He's nothing but a low-down, murdering assassin that old +Eells or somebody has hired----" + +"Oh, _please_!" she protested and his eyes opened big before they +closed down in a sudden scowl. + +"Well, I'll show you," he said and packed and rode off in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WAR EAGLE + + +Since a bullet from nowhere had shot him through the leg, Wunpost had +learned a new fear of the hills. Before, they had been his +stamping-ground, the "high places" he was so boastful of; but now they +became imbued with a malign personality, all the more fearful because it +was unknown. With painstaking care he had checked up on Pisen-face +Lynch, to determine if it was he who had ambushed him; but Lynch had +established a perfect alibi--in fact, it was almost too good. He had +been right in Blackwater during all the trouble, although now he was out +in the hills; and an Indian whom Wunpost had sent on a scout reported +that the Shoshones had no knowledge of the shooting. They, too, had +become aware of the strange presence in the hills, though none of them +had really seen it, and their women were afraid to go out after the +pinon-nuts for fear of being caught and stolen. + +The prowler was no renegade Shoshone, for his kinsmen would know about +him, and yet Wunpost had a feeling it was an Indian. And he had another +hunch--that the Indian was employed by Eels and Pisen-face Lynch. For, +despite Wilhelmina's statement, there was one man in Blackwater who did +not consider him a bag of hot air. Judson Eells took him seriously, so +seriously, in fact, that he was spending thousands of dollars on +detectives; and Wunpost knew for a certainty that there was a party in +the hills, waiting and watching to trail him to his mine. His departure +from Los Angeles had been promptly reported, and Lynch and several +others had left town--which was yet another reason why Wunpost quit the +hills and went north over the Death Valley Trail. + +Life had suddenly become a serious affair to the man who had discovered +the Willie Meena, and as he neared that mine he veered off to the right +and took the high ground to Wild Rose. Yet he could not but observe that +the mine was looking dead, and rumor had it that the paystreak had +failed. The low-grade was still there and Eells was still working it; +but out on the desert and sixty miles from the railroad it could hardly +be expected to pay. No, Judson Eells was desperate, for he saw his +treasure slipping as the Wunpost had slipped away before; it was +slipping through his fingers and he grasped at any straw which might +help him to find the Sockdolager. It was the curse of the Panamints that +the veins all pinched out or ran into hungry ore; and for the second +time, when he had esteemed himself rich, he had found the bottom of the +hole. He had built roads and piped water and set up a mill and settled +down to make his pile; and then, with that strange fatality which seemed +to pursue him, he had seen his profits fail. The assays had shown that +his pay-ore was limited and that soon the Willie Meena must close, and +now he was taking the last of his surplus and making a desperate fight +for the Sockdolager. + +Half the new mine was his, according to law, and since Wunpost had dared +him to do his worst he was taking him at his word. And Wunpost at last +was getting scared, though not exactly of Eells. For, since he alone +knew the location of his mine, and no one could find it if he were dead, +it stood to reason that Eells would never kill him, or give orders to +his agents to kill. But what those agents were doing while they were out +in the field, and how far they would respect his wishes, was something +about which Eells knew no more than Wunpost, if, in fact, he knew as +much. For Wunpost had a limp in his good right leg which partially +conveyed the answer, and it was his private opinion that Lynch had gone +bad and was out in the hills to kill him. Hence his avoidance of the +peaks, and even the open trail; and the way he rode into water after +dark. + +There were Indians at Wild Rose, Shooshon Johnny and his family on their +way to Furnace Creek for the winter; but though they were friendly +Wunpost left in the night and camped far out on the plain. It was the +same sandy plain over which he had fled when he had led Lynch to Poison +Spring, and as he went on at dawn Wunpost felt the first vague +misgivings for his part in that unfortunate affair. It had lost him a +lot of friends and steeled his enemies against him--Lynch no longer was +working by the day--and sooner or later it was likely to cost him dear, +for no man can win all the time. Yet he had thrown down the gauntlet, +and if he weakened now and quit his name would be a byword on the +desert. And besides he had made his boast to Wilhelmina that he would +come back with his assailant's back hair. + +It was a matter of pride with John C. Calhoun that, for all his wild +talk, he never made his brag without trying to live up to his word. He +had stated in public that he was going to break Eells, and he fully +intended to do so; and his promise to get Lynch and Phillip F. Lapham +was never out of his mind; but this assassin, this murderer, who had +shot him without cause and then crawled off through the boulders like a +snake--Wunpost had schemed night and day from the moment he was hit to +bring the sneaking miscreant to book. He had some steel-traps in his +packs which might serve to good purpose if he could once get the +man-hunter on his trail; and he still fondly hoped to lure him over into +Death Valley, where he would have to come out of the hills. + +No man could cross that Valley without leaving his tracks, for there +were alkali flats for miles; and when, in turn, Wunpost wished to cover +his own trail, there was always the Devil's Playground. There, whenever +the wind blew, the great sandhills were on the move, covering up and at +the same time laying bare; and when a sand storm came on he could lose +his tracks half an hour after they were made. It was a big country, and +wild, no man lived there for sixty miles--they could fight it out, +alone. + +From Emigrant Spring, where he camped after dark, Wunpost rode out +before dawn and was well clear of the hills before it was light enough +to shoot. The broad bulwark of Tucki Mountain, rising up on his right, +might give a last shelter to his enemy; but now he was in the open with +Emigrant Wash straight ahead and Death Valley lying white beyond. And +over beyond that, like a wall of layer cake, rose the striated +buttresses of the Grapevines. Wunpost passed down over the road up which +the Nevada rush had come when he had made his great strike at Black +Point; and as he rollicked along on his fast-walking mule, with the two +pack-animals following behind, something rose up within him to tell him +the world was good and that a lucky star was leading him on. + +He was heading across the Valley to the Grapevine Range, and the hateful +imp of evil which had dogged him through the Panamints would have to +come down and leave a trail. And once he found his tracks Wunpost would +know who he was fighting, and he could govern himself accordingly. If it +was an Indian, well and good; if it was Lynch, still well and good; but +no man can be brave when he is fighting in the dark or fleeing from an +unseen hand. From their lookouts on the heights his enemies could see +him traveling and trace him with their glasses all day; but when night +fell they would lose him, and then someone would have to descend and +pick up his trail in the sands. + +Wunpost camped that evening at Surveyor's Well, a trench-hole dug down +into the Sink, and after his mules had eaten their fill of salt-grass he +packed up again and pushed on to the east. From the stinking alkali flat +with its mesquite clumps and sacaton, he passed on up an interminable +wash; and at daylight he was hidden in the depths of a black canyon +which ended abruptly behind him. There was no way to reach him, or even +see where he was hid, except by following up the canyon; and before he +went to sleep Wunpost got out his two bear-traps and planted them +hurriedly in the trail. Then, retiring into a cave, he left Good Luck on +guard and slept until late in the day. But nothing stirred down the +trail, his watch-dog was silent--he was hidden from all the world. + +That evening just at dusk he went back down the trail and set his bear +traps again, but not even a prowling fox came along in the night to +spring their cruel jaws. The canyon was deserted and the water-hole +where he drank was unvisited except by his mules. These he had penned in +above him by a fence of brush and ropes and hobbled them to make doubly +sure; but in the morning they were there, waiting to receive their bait +of grain as if Tank Canyon was their customary home. Another day dragged +by and Wunpost began to fidget and to watch the unscalable peaks, but no +Indian's head appeared to draw a slug from his rifle and again the night +passed uneventfully. He spent the third day in a fury, pacing up and +down his cave, and at nightfall he packed up and was gone. + +Three days was enough to wait on the man who had shot him down from the +heights and, now that he thought of it, he was taking a great deal for +granted when he set his big traps in the trail. In the first place, he +was assuming that the man was still there, after a lapse of six weeks +and more; and in the second place that he was bold enough, or so +obsessed by blood-lust, that he would follow him across Death Valley; +whereas as a matter of fact, he knew nothing whatever about him except +that he had shot him in the leg. His aim had been good but a little too +low, which is unusual when shooting down hill, and that might argue him +a white man; but his hiding had been better, and his absolute patience, +and that looked more like an Indian. But whoever he was, it was taking +too much for granted to think that he would walk into a trap. What +Wunpost wanted to know, and what he was about to find out, was whether +his tracks had been followed. + +He left Tank Canyon after dark, driving his pack-mules before him to +detect any possible ambush; and in his nest on the front pack Good Luck +stood up like a sentinel, eager to scent out the lurking foe. For the +past day and night Good Luck had been uneasy, snuffing the wind and +growling in his throat, but the actions of his master had been cause +enough for that, for he responded to Wunpost's every mood. And Wunpost +was as jumpy as a cat that has been chased by a dog, he practised for +hours on the draw-and-shoot; and whenever he dismounted he dragged his +rifle with him to make sure he would do it in a pinch. He was worried +but not frightened and when he came free from the canyon he headed for +Surveyor's Well. + +Someone had been there before him, perhaps even that very night, for +water had been splashed about the hole; but whoever it was, was gone. +Wunpost studied the unshod horse-track, then he began to cut circles in +the snow-white alkali and at last he sat down to await the dawn. There +was something eerie about this pursuit, if pursuit it was, for while the +horse had been watered from the bucket at the well, its rider had not +left a track. Not a heel-mark, not a nail-point, and the last of the +water had been dropped craftily on the spot where he had mounted. That +was enough--Wunpost knew he had met his match. He watered his mules +again, rode west into the mesquite brush and at sun-up he was hid for +the day. + +Where three giant mesquite trees, their tops reared high in the air and +their trunks banked up with sand, sprawled together to make a natural +barricade, Wunpost unpacked his mules and tied them there to browse +while he climbed to the top of a mound. The desert was quite bare as far +as he could see--no horseman came or went, every distant trail was +empty, the way to Tank Canyon was untrod. And yet somewhere there must +be a man and a horse--a very ordinary horse, such as any man might have, +and a man who wiped out his tracks. Wunpost lay there a long time, +sweeping the washes with his glasses, and then a shadow passed over him +and was gone. He jumped and a glossy raven, his head turned to one side, +gave vent to a loud, throaty _quawk_! His mate followed behind him, +her wings rustling noisily, her beady eye fixed on his camp, and Wunpost +looked up and cursed back at them. + +If the ravens on the mountain had made out his hiding-place and come +down from their crags to look, what was to prevent this man who smoothed +out his tracks from detecting his hidden retreat? Wunpost knew the +ravens well, for no man ever crossed Death Valley without hearing the +whish of black wings, but he wondered now if this early morning visit +did not presage disaster to come. What the ravens really sought for he +knew all too well, for he had seen their knotted tracks by dead forms; +yet somehow their passage conjured up thoughts in his brain which had +never disturbed him before. They were birds of death, rapacious and +evil-bringing, and they had cast their boding shadows upon him. + +The dank coolness of the morning gave place to ardent midday before he +crept down and gave up his watch, but as he crouched beneath the trees +another shadow passed over him and cast a slow circle through the brush. +It was a pair of black eagles, come down from the Panamints to throw a +fateful circle above _him_, and in all his wanderings it had never +happened before that an eagle had circled his camp. A superstitious +chill made Wunpost shudder and draw back, for the Shoshones had told him +that the eagles loved men's battles and came from afar to watch. They +had learned in the old days that when one war-party followed another +there would later be feasting and blood; and now, when one man followed +another across the desert, they came down from their high cliffs to +look. Wunpost scrambled to his hillock and watched their effortless +flight; and they swung to the north, where they circled again, not far +from the spot where he was hid. Here was an omen indeed, a sign without +fail, for below where they circled his enemy was hiding--or slipping up +through the brush to shoot. + +We can all stand so much of superstitious fear and then the best nerves +must crack--Wunpost saddled his mules and struck out due south, turning +off into the "self-rising ground." Here in bloated bubbles of salt and +poisonous niter the ground had boiled up and formed a brittle crust, +like dough made of self-rising flour. It was a dangerous place to go, +for at uncertain intervals his mules caved through to their hocks, but +Wunpost did not stop till he had crossed to the other side and put ten +miles of salt-flats behind him. He was haunted by a fear of something he +could not name, of a presence which pursued him like a devil; but as he +stopped and looked back the hot curses rushed to his lips and he headed +boldly for the mouth of Tank Canyon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A LOCK OF HAIR + + +It is no disgrace to flee the unknown, for Nature has made that an +instinct; but the will to overcome conquers even this last of fears and +steels a man's nerves to face anything. The heroes of antiquity set +their lances against dragons and creatures that belched forth flame and +smoke--brave Perseus slew the Gorgon, and Jason the brass-hooved bulls, +and St. George and many another slew his "worm." But the dragons are all +dead or driven to the depths of the sea, whence they rise up to chill +men's blood; and those who conquer now fight only their memory, passed +down in our fear of the unknown. And Perseus and Jason had gods and +sorceresses to protect them, but Wunpost turned back alone. + +He entered Tank Canyon just as the sun sank in the west; and there at +its entrance he found horse-tracks, showing dimly among the rocks. His +enemy had been there, a day or two before, but he too had feared the +unknown. He had gazed into that narrow passageway and turned away, to +wait at Surveyor's Well for his coming. And Wunpost had come, but the +eagles had saved him to give battle once more on his own ground. Tank +Canyon was his stronghold, inaccessible from behind, cut off from the +sides by high walls; and the evil one who pursued him must now brave its +dark depths or play an Indian game and wait. + +Wunpost threw off his packs and left his mules to fret while he ran back +to plant the huge traps. They were not the largest size that would break +a man's leg, but yet large enough to hold their victim firm against all +the force he could exert. Their jaws spread a good foot and two powerful +springs lurked beneath to give them a jump; and once the blow was struck +nothing could pry those teeth apart but the clamps, which were operated +by screws. A man caught in such a trap would be doomed to certain death +if no one came to his aid and Wunpost's lips curled ferociously as he +rose up from his knees and regarded his cunning handiwork. His traps +were set not far apart, in the two holes he had dug before, and covered +with the greatest care; but one was in the trail, where a man would +naturally step, and the other was out in the rocks. A bush, pulled +carelessly down, stuck out from the bank like a fragile but compelling +hand; and Wunpost knew that the prowler would step around it by +instinct, which would throw him into the trap. + +The night was black in Tank Canyon and only a pathway of stars showed +the edge of the boxed-in walls; it was black and very silent, for not a +mouse was abroad, and yet Wunpost and his dog could not sleep. A dozen +times before midnight Good Luck leapt up growling and bestrode his +master's form, and at last he rushed out barking, his voice rising to a +yell as he paused and listened through the silence. Wunpost lay in bed +and waited, then rose cautiously up and peered from the mouth of the +cave. A pale moon was shining on the jagged rocks above and there was a +grayness that foretold the dawn, but the bottom of Tank Canyon was still +dark as a pocket and he went back to wait for the day. Good Luck came +back whining, and a growl rumbled in his throat--then he leapt up again +and Wunpost felt his own hair rise, for a wail had come through the +night. He slapped Good Luck into silence and listened again--and it +came, a wild, animal-like cry. Yet it was the voice of a man and Wunpost +sprang to his feet all a-tremble to gaze on his catch. + +"I've got him!" he chuckled and drew on his boots; then tied up the dog +and slipped out into the night. + +The dawn had come when he rose up from behind a boulder and strained his +eyes in the uncertain light, and where the trap had been there was now a +rocking form which let out hoarse grunts of pain. It rose up suddenly +and as the head came in view Wunpost saw that his pursuer was an Indian. +His hair was long and cut off straight above the shoulders in the +old-time Indian silhouette; but this buck was no Shoshone, for they have +given up the breech-clout and he wore a cloth about his hips. + +"H'lo!" he hailed and Wunpost ducked back for he did not trust his +guest. He was the man, beyond a doubt, who had shot him from the ridge; +and such a man would shoot again. So he dropped down and lay silent, +listening to the rattle of the huge chain and the vicious clash of the +trap, and the Indian burst out scolding. + +"Whassa mala!" he gritted, "my foot get caught in trap. You come +fixum--fixum quick!" + +Wunpost rose up slowly and peered out through a crack and he caught the +gleam of a gun. + +"You throw away that gun!" he returned from behind the boulder and at +last he heard it clatter among the rocks. "Now your pistol!" he ordered, +but the Indian burst out angrily in his guttural native tongue. What he +said could only be guessed from his scolding tone of voice; but after a +sullen pause he dropped back into English, this time complaining and +insolently defiant. + +"You shut up!" commanded Wunpost suddenly rising above his rock and +covering the Indian with his gun, "and throw away that pistol or I'll +kill you!" + +The Indian reared up and faced him, then reached inside his waistband +and threw a wicked gun into the dirt. He was grinding his teeth with +pain, like a gopher in a trap, and his brows were drawn down in a fierce +scowl; but Wunpost only laughed as he advanced upon him slowly, his gun +held ready to shoot. + +"Don't like it, eh?" he taunted, "well, I didn't like _this_ when +you up and shot me through the leg." + +He slapped his leg and the Indian seemed to understand--or perhaps he +misunderstood; his hand leapt like a flash to a butcher knife in his +moccasin-leg and Wunpost jumped as it went past his ribs. Then a silence +fell, in which the fate of a human life hung on the remnant of what some +people call pity, and Wunpost's trigger-finger relaxed. But it was not +pity, it was just an age-old feeling against shooting a man in a trap. +Or perhaps it was pride and the white man's instinct not to foul his +clean hands with butcher's blood. Wunpost wanted to kill him but he +stepped back instead and looked him in the eye. + +"You rattlesnake-eyed dastard!" he hissed between his teeth and the +Indian began to beg. Wunpost listened to him coldly, his eyes bulging +with rage, and then he backed off and sat down. + +"Who you working for?" he asked and as the Indian turned glum he rolled +a cigarette and waited. The jaws of the steel-trap had caught him by the +heel, stabbing their teeth through into the flesh, and in spite of his +stoicism the Indian rocked back and forth and his little eyes glinted +with the agony. Yet he would not talk and Wunpost went off and left him, +after gathering up his guns and the knife. There was something about +that butcher-knife and the way it was flung which roused all the evil in +Wunpost's heart and he meditated darkly whether to let the Indian go or +give him his just deserts. But first he intended to wring a confession +from him, and he left him to rattle his chain. + +Wunpost cooked a hasty breakfast and fed and saddled his mules and then, +as the Indian began to shout for help, he walked down and glanced at him +inquiringly. + +"You let me go!" ordered the Indian, drawing himself up arrogantly and +shaking the coarse hair from his eyes, and Wunpost laughed disdainfully. + +"Who are you?" he demanded, "and what you doing over here? I know them +buckskin _tewas_--you're an Apache!" + +"_Si_--Apache!" agreed the Indian. "I come over here--hunt sheep. +What for you settum trap?" + +"Settum trap--ketch you," answered Wunpost succinctly. "You bad +Injun--maybeso I kill you. Who hired you to come over here and kill me?" + +Again the sullen silence, the stubborn turn of the head, the suffering +compression of the lips; and Wunpost went back to his camp. The Indian +was an Apache, he had known it from the start by his _tewas_ and +the cut of his hair; for no Indian in California wears high-topped +buckskin moccasins with a little canoe-prow on the toe. That was a +mountain-Apache device, that little disc of rawhide, to protect the +wearer's toes from rocks and cactus, and someone had imported this buck. +Of course, it was Lynch but it was different to make him _say_ +so--but Wunpost knew how an Apache would go about it. He would light a +little fire under his fellow-man and see if that wouldn't help. However +there are ways which answer just as well, and Wunpost packed and mounted +and rode down past the trap. Or at least he tried to, but his mules were +so frightened that it took all his strength to haze them past. As for +Good Luck, he flew at the Indian in a fury of barking and was nearly +struck dead by a rock. The Apache was fighting mad, until Wunpost came +back and tamed him; and then Wunpost spoke straight out. + +"Here, you!" he said, "you savvy coyote? You want him come eat you up? +Well, _talk_ then, you dastard; or I'll go off and leave you. Come +through now--who brought you over here?" + +The Apache looked up at him from under his banged hair and his evil eyes +roved fearfully about. + +"Big fat man," he lied and Wunpost smiled grimly--he would tell this +later to Eells. + +"Nope," he said and shook his head warningly at which the Indian seemed +to meditate his plight. + +"Big tall man," he amended and Wunpost nodded. + +"Sure," he said. "What name you callum?" + +"Callum Lynchie," admitted the Apache with a sickly grin, "she come San +Carlos--busca scout." + +"Oh, _busca_ scout, eh?" repeated Wunpost. "What for wantum scout? +Plenty Shooshonnie scout, over here." + +"Hah! Shooshonnie no good!" spat the Apache contemptuously. "Me +_scout_--me work for Government! Injun scout--you savvy? Follow +tracks for soldier. Me Manuel Apache--big chief!" + +"Yes, big chief!" scoffed Wunpost, "but you ain't no scout, Manuel, or +you wouldn't be caught here in this trap. Now listen, Mr. Injun--you +want to go home? You want to go see your squaw? Well, s'pose I let you +loose, what you think you're going to do--follow me up and shoot me for +Lynch?" + +"No! No shootum for Lynchie!" denied the Apache vigorously. +"Lynchie--she say, _busca_ mine! _Busca_ gol' mine, savvy--but +'nother man she say, you ketchum plenty money--in pants." + +"O-ho!" exclaimed Wunpost as the idea suddenly dawned on him and once +more he experienced a twinge of regret. This time it was for the +occasion when he had shown scornful Blackwater that seven thousand +dollars in bills. And he had with him now--in his pants, as the Indian +said--no less than thirty thousand dollars in one roll. And all because +he had lost his faith in banks. + +"You shoot me--get money?" he inquired, slapping his leg; and Manuel +Apache grinned guiltily. He was caught now, and ashamed, but not of +attempting murder--he was ashamed of having been caught. + +"Trap hurt!" he complained, drawing up his wrinkled face and rattling +his chain impatiently, and Wunpost nodded gravely. + +"All right," he said, "I'll turn you loose. A man that will flash his +roll like I did in Blackwater--he _deserves_ to get shot in the +leg." + +He took his rope from the saddle and noosed the Indian about both arms, +after which he stretched him out as he would a fighting wildcat and +loosened the springs with his clamps. + +"What you do?" he inquired, "if I let you go?" + +"Go home!" snarled Manuel, "Lynchie no good--me no likum. Me your +friend--no shootum--go home!" + +"Well, you'd better," warned Wunpost, "because next time I'll kill you. +Oh, by grab, I nearly forgot!" + +He whipped out the butcher-knife which the Apache had flung at him and +cropped off a lock of his hair. It was something he had promised +Wilhelmina. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE FEAR OF THE HILLS + + +Wunpost romped off down the canyon, holding the hair up like a +scalp-lock--which it was, except for the scalp. Manuel Apache, with the +pride of his kind, had knotted it up in a purple silk handkerchief; and +he had yelled louder when he found it was gone than he had when he was +caught in the trap. He had, in fact, acted extremely unreasonable, +considering all that had been done for him; and Wunpost had been obliged +to throw down on him with his six-shooter and order him off up the +canyon. It was taking a big chance to allow him to live at all and, not +to tempt him too far along the lines of reprisal, Wunpost left the +Apache afoot. His gaunted pony was feeding hobbled, down the canyon, and +Wunpost took off the rawhide thongs and hung them about his neck, after +which he drove him on with his mules. But even at that he was taking a +chance, or so at least it seemed, for the look in the Apache's eye as he +had limped off up the gulch reminded Wunpost of a broken-backed +rattlesnake. + +He was a bad Indian and a bad actor--one of these men that throw +butcher-knives--and yet Wunpost had tamed him and set him afoot and come +off with his back-hair, as promised. He was a Government scout, the pick +of the Apaches, and he had matched his desert craft against Wunpost's; +but that craft, while it was good, was not good enough, and he had +walked right into a bear-trap. Not the trap in the trail--he had gone +around that--but the one in the rocks, with the step-diverting bush +pulled down. Wunpost had gauged it to a nicety and this big chief of the +Apaches had lost out in the duel of wits. He had lost his horse and he +had lost his hair; and that pain in his heel would be a warning for some +time not to follow after Wunpost, the desert-man. + +There were others, of course, who claimed to be desert-men and to know +Death Valley like a book; but it was self-evident to Wunpost as he rode +back with his trophies that he was the king of them all. He had taken on +Lynch and his desert-bred Shoshone and led them the devil's own chase; +and now he had taken on Manuel, the big chief of the Apaches, and left +him afoot in the rocks. But one thing he had learned from this +snakey-eyed man-killer--he would better get rid of his money. For there +were others still in the hills who might pot him for it any time--and +besides, it was a useless risk. He was taking chances enough without +making it an object for every miscreant in the country to shoot him. + +He camped that noon at Surveyor's Well, to give his mules a good feed of +grass, and as he sat out in the open the two ravens came by, but now he +laughed at their croaks. Even if the eagles came by he would not lose +his nerve again, for he was fighting against men that he knew. +Pisen-face Lynch and his gang were no better than he was--they left a +track and followed the trails--and after he had announced that his money +was all banked they would have no inducement to kill him. The +inducements, in fact, would be all the other way; because the man that +killed him would be fully as foolish as the one that killed the goose +for her egg. He alone was the repository of that great and golden +secret, the whereabouts of the Sockdolager Mine; and if they killed him +out of spite neither Eells nor any of his man-hunters would ever see the +color of its ore. + +Wunpost stretched his arms and laughed, but as he was saddling up his +mules he saw a smoke, rising up from the mouth of Tank Canyon. It was +not in the Canyon but high up on a point and he knew it was Manuel +Apache. He was signaling across the Valley to his boss in the Panamints +that he was in distress and needed help, but no answering smoke rose up +from Tucki Mountain to show where Wunpost's enemies lay hid. The +Panamints stood out clean in the brilliant November light and each +purple canyon seemed to invite him to its shelter, so sweetly did they +lie in the sun. And yet, as that thin smoke bellied up and was smothered +back again in the smoke-talk that the Apaches know so well, Wunpost +wondered if its message was only a call for help--it might be a warning +to Lynch. Or it might be a signal to still other Apaches who were +watching his coming from the heights, and as Wunpost looked again his +hand sought out the Indian's scalp-lock and he regarded it almost +regretfully. + +Why had he envenomed that ruthless savage by lifting his scalp-lock, the +token of his warrior's pride; when by treating him generously he might +have won his good will and thus have one less enemy in the hills? +Perhaps Wilhelmina had been right--it was to make good on a boast which +might much better have never been uttered. He had bet her his mine and +everything he had, a thing quite unnecessary to do; and then to make +good he had deprived this Indian of his hair, which alone might put him +back on his trail. He might get another horse and take up once more that +relentless and murderous pursuit; and this time, like Lynch, he would be +out for blood and not for the money there was in it. + +Wunpost sighed and cinched his packs and hit out across the flats for +the mouth of Emigrant Wash. But the thought that other Apaches might be +in Lynch's employ quite poisoned Wunpost's flowing cup of happiness, and +as he drew near the gap which led off to Emigrant Springs he stopped and +looked up at the mountains. They were high, he knew, and his mules were +tired, but something told him not to go through that gap. It was a +narrow passageway through the hills, not forty feet wide, and all along +its sides there were caves in the cliffs where a hundred men could hide. +And why should Manuel Apache be making fancy smoke-talks if no one but +white men were there? Why not make a straight smoke, the way a white man +would, and let it go at that? Wunpost shook his head sagely and turned +away from the gap--he had had enough excitement for that trip. + +Bone Canyon, for which he headed, was still far away and the sun was +getting low; but Wunpost knew, even if others did not, that there was a +water-hole well up towards the summit. A cloudburst had sluiced the +canyon from top to bottom and spread out a great fan of dirt; but in the +earlier days an Indian trail had wound up it, passing by the hidden +spring. And if he could water his mules there he could rim out up above +and camp on a broad, level flat. Wunpost jogged along fast, for he had +left the pony at Surveyor's Well, and as he rode towards the +canyon-mouth he kept his eyes on the ridges to guard against a possible +surprise. For if Lynch and his Indians were watching from the gap they +would notice his turning off to the left, and in that case a good runner +might cut across to Bone Canyon before he could get through the pass. +But the mountain side was empty and as the dusk was gathering he passed +through the portals of Bone Canyon. + +Like all desert canyons it boxed in at its mouth, opening out later in a +broad valley behind; his road was the sand-wash, the path of the last +cloudburst, now packed hard and set like stone. In the middle of the +sand-wash a little channel had been dug by the last of the sluicing +water; above the wash there rose another cut-bank where the cloudburst +before it had taken out an even greater slice; and then on both sides +there rose high bluffs of conglomerate which some father of all the +cloudbursts had formed. Wunpost was riding in the lead now on his +fast-walking mule, the two pack-animals following wearily along behind; +in his nest on the front pack Good Luck was more than half sleeping, +Wunpost himself was tempted to nod--and then, from the west bluff, there +was a spit of fire and Wunpost found himself on the ground. + +Across his breast and under his arm there was a streak that burned like +fire, his mules were milling and bashing their packs; and as they turned +both ways and ran he rolled over into the channel, with his rifle still +clutched in one hand. Those days of steady practise had not been in +vain, for as he went off his mule he had snatched at his saddle-gun and +dragged it from its scabbard. And now he lay and waited, listening to +the running of his mules and the frenzied barking of his dog; and it +came to him vaguely that several shots had been fired, and some from the +east bank of the wash. But the man who had hit him had fired from the +west and Wunpost crept down the wash and looked up. + +A trickle of blood was running down his left arm from the bullet wound +which had just missed his heart, but his whole body was tingling with a +strength which could move mountains and he was consumed with a passion +for revenge. For the second time he had been ambushed and shot by this +gang of cold-blooded murderers, and he had no doubt that their motive +was the same as that to which the Indian had confessed. They had dogged +his steps to kill him for his money--Pisen-face Lynch, or whoever it +was--but their shooting was poor and as he rose beside a bush Wunpost +took a chance from the east. The man he was looking for had shot from +the west and he ran his eyes along the bluff. + +Nothing stirred for a minute and then a round rock suddenly moved and +altered its shape. He thrust out his rifle and drew down on it +carefully, but the dusk put a blur on his sights. His foresight was +beginning to loom, his hindsight was not clean, and he knew that would +make him shoot high. He waited, all a-tremble, the sweat running off his +face and mingling with the blood from his arm; and then the man rose up, +head and shoulders against the sky, and he knew his would-be murderer +was Lynch. Wunpost held his gun against the light until the sights were +lined up fine, then swung back for a snap-shot at Lynch; and as the +rifle belched and kicked he caught a flash of a tumbling form and +clutching hands thrown up wildly against the sky. Then he stooped down +and ran, helter-skelter down the wash, regardless of what might be in +his way; and as he plunged around a curve he stampeded a pack-mule which +had run that far and stopped. + +It was the smallest of his mules, and the wildest as well, Old Walker +and his mate having gone off up the canyon in a panic which would take +them to the ranch; but it was a mule and, being packed, it could not run +far down hill so Wunpost walked up on it and caught it. Far out in the +open, where no enemy could slip up on him, he halted and made a saddle +of the pack, and as he mounted to go he turned to Tucki Mountain and +called down a curse on Lynch. Then he rode back down the trail that led +to Death Valley, for the fear of the hills had come back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE RETURN OF THE BLOW-HARD + + +Nothing was seen of John C. Calhoun for nearly a week and then, late one +evening, he stepped in on Judson Eells in his office at the Blackwater +Bank. + +"Why--why, Mr. Calhoun!" he gasped, "we--we all thought you were dead!" + +"Yes," returned Calhoun, whose arm was in a sling, "I thought so myself +for a while. What's the good word from Mr. Lynch?" + +Eells dropped back in his chair and stared at him fixedly. + +"Why--we haven't been able to locate him. But you, Mr. Calhoun--we've +been looking for you everywhere. Your riding mule came back with his +saddle all bloody and a bullet wound across his hip and the Campbells +were terribly distressed. We've had search-parties out everywhere but no +one could find you and at last you were given up for dead." + +"Yes, I saw some of those search-parties," answered Wunpost grimly, "but +I noticed that they all packed Winchesters. What's the idee in trying to +kill me?" + +"Why, we aren't trying to kill you!" burst out Judson Eells vehemently. +"Quite the contrary, we've been trying to find you. But perhaps you can +tell us about poor Mr. Lynch--he has disappeared completely." + +"What about them Apaches?" inquired Wunpost pointedly, and Judson Eells +went white. + +"Why--what Apaches?" he faltered at last and Wunpost regarded him +sternly. + +"All right," he said, "I don't know nothing if you don't. But I reckon +they turned the trick. That Manuel Apache was a bad one." He reached +back into his hip-pocket and drew out a coiled-up scalp-lock. "There's +his hair," he stated, and smiled. + +"What? Did you kill him?" cried Eells, starting up from his chair, but +Wunpost only shrugged enigmatically. + +"I ain't talking," he said. "Done too much of that already. What I've +come to say is that I've buried all my money and I'm not going back to +that mine. So you can call off your bad-men and your murdering Apache +Indians, because there's no use following me now. Thinking about taking +a little trip for my health." + +He paused expectantly but Judson Eells was too shocked to make any +proper response. His world was tumbling about him, all his plans had +come to naught--and Lynch was gone. He longed to question further, to +seek out some clew, but he dared not, for his hands were not clean. He +had hired this Apache whose grisly scalp-lock now lay before him, and +the others who had been with Lynch; and if it ever became known----He +shuddered and let his lip drop. + +"This is horrible!" he burst out hoarsely, "but why should they kill +Lynch?" + +"And why should they kill _me_?" added Wunpost. "You've got a +nerve," he went on, "bringing those devils into the country--don't you +know they're as treacherous as a rattlesnake? No, you've been going too +far; and it's a question with me whether I won't report the whole +business to the sheriff. But what's the use of making trouble? All I +want is that contract--and this time I reckon I'll get it." + +He nodded confidently but Judson Eells' proud lip went up and instantly +he became the bold financier. + +"No," he said, "you'll never get it, Mr Calhoun--not until you take me +to the Sockdolager Mine." + +"Nothing doing," replied Wunpost "not for you or any other man. I stay +away from that mine, from now on. Why should I give up a half--ain't I +got thirty thousand dollars, hid out up here under a stone? Live and let +live, sez I, and if you'll call off your bad-men I'll agree not to talk +to the sheriff." + +"You can talk all you wish!" snapped out Eells with rising courage, "I'm +not afraid of your threats. And neither am I afraid of anything you can +do to test the validity of that contract. It will hold, absolutely, in +any court in the land; but if you will take me to your mine and turn it +over in good faith, I will agree to cancel the contract." + +"Oh! You don't want nothing!" hooted Wunpost sarcastically, "but I'll +tell you what I will do--I'll give you thirty thousand dollars, cash." + +"No! I've told you my terms, and there's no use coming back to me--it's +the Sockdolager Mine or nothing." + +"Suit yourself," returned Wunpost, "but I'm just beginning to wonder +whether I'm shooting it out with the right men. What's the use of +fighting murderers, and playing tag with Apache Indians, when the man +that sends 'em out is sitting tight? In fact, why don't I come in here +and get _you_?" + +"Because you're wrong!" answered Eells without giving back an inch, +"you're trying to evade the law. And any man that breaks the law is a +coward at heart, because he knows that all society is against him." + +"Sounds good," admitted Wunpost, "and I'd almost believe it if +_you_ didn't show such a nerve But you know and I know that you +break the law every day--and some time, Mr. Banker, you're going to get +caught. No, you can guess again on why I don't shoot you--I just like to +see you wiggle. I just like to see a big fat slob like you, that's got +the whole world bluffed, twist around in his seat when a _man_ +comes along and tells him what a dastard he is. And besides, I git a +laugh, every time I come back and you make me think of the Stinging +Lizard--and the road! But the biggest laugh I get is when you pull this +virtuous stuff, like the widow-robbing old screw you are, and then have +the nerve to tell me to my face that it's the Sockdolager Mine or +nothing. Well, it's nothing then, Mr. Penny-pincher; and if I ever get +the chance I'll make you squeal like a pig. And don't send no more +Apaches after _me_!" + +He rose up and slapped the desk, then picked up the scalp-lock and +strode majestically out the door. But Judson Eells was unimpressed, for +he had seen them squirm before. He was a banker, and he knew all the +signs. Nor did John C. Calhoun laugh as he rode off through the night, +for his schemes had gone awry again. Every word that he had said was as +true as Gospel and he could sit around and wait a life-time--but waiting +was not his long suit. In Los Angeles he seemed to attract all the +bar-flies in the city, who swarmed about and bummed him for the drinks; +and no man could stand their company for more than a few days without +getting thoroughly disgusted. And on the desert, every time he went out +into the hills he was lucky to come back with his life. So what was he +to do, while he was waiting around for this banker to find out he was +whipped? + +For Eells was whipped, he was foiled at every turn; and yet that +muley-cow lip came up as stubbornly as ever and he tried to tell him, +Wunpost, he was wrong. And that because he was wrong and a law-breaker +at heart he was therefore a coward and doomed to lose. It was ludicrous, +the way Eells stood up for his "rights," when everyone knew he was a +thief; and yet that purse-proud intolerance which is the hall-mark of +his class made him think he was entirely right. He even had the nerve to +preach little homilies about trying to evade the law. But that was it, +his very self-sufficiency made him immune against anything but a club. +He had got the idea into his George the Third head that the king can do +no wrong--and he, of course was the king. If Wunpost made a threat, or +concealed the location of a mine, that was wrong, it was against the +law; but Eells himself had hired some assassins who had shot him, +Wunpost, twice, and yet Eells was game to let it go before the +sheriff--he could not believe he was wrong. + +Wunpost cursed that pride of class which makes all capitalists so hard +to head and put the whole matter from his mind. He had hoped to come +back with that contract in his pocket, to show to the doubting +Wilhelmina; but she had had enough of boasting and if he was ever to win +her heart he must learn to feign a virtue which he lacked. That virtue +was humility, the attribute of slaves and those who are not born to +rule; but with her it was a virtue second only to that Scotch honesty +which made upright Cole Campbell lean backwards. He was so straight he +was crooked and cheated himself, so honest that he stood in his own +light; and to carry out his principles he doomed his family to Jail +Canyon for the rest of their natural lives. And yet Wilhelmina loved him +and was always telling what he said and bragging of what he had done, +when anyone could see that he was bull-headed as a mule and hadn't one +chance in ten thousand to win. But all the same they were good folks, +you always knew where you would find them, and Wilhelmina was as pretty +as a picture. + +No rouge on those cheeks and yet they were as pink as the petals of a +blushing rose, and her lips were as red as Los Angeles cherries and her +eyes were as honest as the day. Nothing fly about her, she had not +learned the tricks that the candy-girls and waitresses knew, and yet she +was as wise as many a grown man and could think circles around him when +it came to an argument. She could see right through his bluffing and put +her finger on the spot which convinced even him that he was wrong, but +if he refrained from opposing her she was as simple as a child and her +only desire was to please. She was not self-seeking, all she wanted was +his company and a chance to give expression to her thoughts; and when he +would listen they got on well enough, it was only when he boasted that +she rebelled. For she could not endure his masculine complacency and his +assumption that success made him right, and when he had gone away she +had told him to his face that he was a blow-hard and his money was +tainted. + +Wunpost mulled this over, too, as he rode on up Jail Canyon and when he +sighted the house he took Manuel Apache's scalp-lock and hid it inside +his pack. After risking his life to bring his love this token he thought +better of it and brought only himself. He would come back a friend, one +who had seen trouble as they had but was not boasting of what he had +done--and if anyone asked him what he had done to Lynch he would pass it +off with some joke. So he talked too much, did he? All right, he would +show them; he would close his trap and say nothing; and in a week +Wilhelmina would be following him around everywhere, just begging to +know about his arm. But no, he would tell her it was just a sad +accident, which no one regretted more than he did; and rather than seem +to boast he would say in a general way that it would never happen again. +And that would be the truth, because from what Eells had said he was +satisfied the Apaches had buried Lynch. + +But how, now, was he to approach this matter of the money which he was +determined to advance for the road? That would call for diplomacy and he +would have to stick around a while before Billy would listen to reason. +But once she was won over the whole family would be converted; for she +was the boss, after all. She wore the overalls at the Jail Canyon Ranch +and in spite of her pretty ways she had a will of her own that would not +be denied. And when she saw him come back, like a man from the dead--he +paused and blinked his eyes. But what would _he_ say--would he tell +her what had happened? No, there he was again, right back where he had +started from--the thing for him to do was to _keep still_. Say +nothing about Lynch and catching Apaches in bear-traps, just look happy +and listen to her talk. + +It was morning and the sun had just touched the house which hung like +driftwood against the side of the hill. The mud of the cloudburst had +turned to hard pudding-stone, which resounded beneath his mule's feet. +The orchard was half buried, the garden in ruins, the corral still +smothered with muck; but as he rode up the new trail a streak of white +quit the house and came bounding down to meet him. It was Wilhelmina, +still dressed in women's clothes but quite forgetful of everything but +her joy; and when he dismounted she threw both arms about his neck, and +cried when he gave her a kiss. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SOMETHING NEW + + +There are compensations for everything, even for being given up for +dead, and as he was welcomed back to life by a sweet kiss from +Wilhelmina, Wunpost was actually glad he had been shot. He was glad he +was hungry, for now she would feed him; glad he was wounded, for she +would be his nurse; and when Cole Campbell and his wife took him in and +made much of him he lost his last bitterness against Lynch. In the first +place, Lynch was dead, and not up on the ridge waiting to pot him for +what money he had; and in the second place Lynch had shot right past his +heart and yet had barely wounded him at all. But the sight of that +crease across his breast and the punctured hole through his arm quite +disarmed the Campbells and turned their former disapproval to a hovering +admiration and solicitude. + +If the hand of Divine Providence had loosed the waterspout down their +canyon to punish him for his overweening pride, perhaps it had now saved +him and turned the bullet aside to make him meet for repentance. It was +something like that which lay in their minds as they installed him in +their best front room, and when they found that his hardships had left +him chastened and silent they even consented to accept payment for his +horse-feed. If they did not, he declared, he would pack up forthwith and +take his whole outfit to Blackwater; and the fact was the Campbells were +so reduced by their misfortunes that they had run up a big bill at the +store. Only occasional contributions from their miner sons in Nevada +kept them from facing actual want, and Campbell was engaged in packing +down his picked ore in order to make a small shipment. But if he figured +his own time in he was not making day's wages and the future held out no +hope. + +Without a road the Homestake Mine was worthless, for it could never be +profitably worked; but Cole Campbell was like Eells in one respect at +least, and that was he never knew when he was whipped. A guarded +suggestion had come from Judson Eells that he might still be persuaded +to buy his mine, but Campbell would not even name a price; and now the +store-keeper had sent him notice that he had discounted his bill at the +bank. That was a polite way of saying that Eells had bought in the +account, which constituted a lien against the mine; and the Campbells +were vaguely worried lest Eells should try his well-known tactics and +suddenly deprive them of their treasure. For the Homestake Mine, in Cole +Campbell's eyes, was the greatest silver property in the West; and yet +even in this emergency, which threatened daily to become desperate, he +refused resolutely to accept tainted money. For not only was Wunpost's +money placed under the ban, but so much had been said of Judson Eells +and his sharp practises that his money was also barred. + +This much Wunpost gathered on the first day of his home-coming, when, +still dazed by his welcome, he yet had the sense to look happy and say +almost nothing. He sat back in an easy chair with Wilhelmina at his side +and the Campbells hovering benevolently in the distance, and to all +attempts to draw him out he responded with a cryptic smile. + +"Oh, we were so worried!" exclaimed Wilhelmina, looking up at him +anxiously, "because there was blood all over the saddle; and when the +trailers got to Wild Rose they found your pack-mule, and Good Luck with +the rope still fast about his neck. But they just couldn't find you +anywhere, and the tracks all disappeared; and when it became known that +Mr. Lynch was missing--oh, _do_ you think they killed him?" + +"Search me," shrugged Wunpost. "I was too busy getting out of there to +do any worrying about Lynch. But I'll tell you one thing, about those +tracks disappearing--them Apaches must have smoothed 'em out, sure." + +"Yes, but why should they kill _him_? Weren't they supposed to be +working for him? That's what Mr. Eells gave us to understand. But wasn't +it kind of him, when he heard you were missing, to send all those +search-parties out? It must have cost him several hundred dollars. And +it shows that even the men we like the least are capable of generous +impulses. He told Father he wouldn't have it happen for anything--I +mean, for you to come to any harm. All he wanted, he said, was the +mine." + +"Yes," nodded Wunpost, and she ran on unheeding as he drew down the +corners of his mouth. But he could agree to that quite readily, for he +knew from his own experience that all Eells wanted was the mine. It was +only a question now of what move he would make next to bring about the +consummation of that wish. For it was Eells' next move, since, according +to Wunpost's reasoning, the magnate was already whipped. His plans for +tracing Wunpost to the source of his wealth had ended in absolute +disaster and the only other move he could possibly make would be along +the line of compromise. Wunpost had told him flat that he would not go +near his mine, no one else knew even its probable location; and yet, +when he had gone to him and suggested some compromise, Eells had refused +even to consider it. Therefore he must have other plans in view. + +But all this was far away and almost academic to the lovelorn John C. +Calhoun, and if Eells never approached him on the matter of the +Sockdolager it would be soon enough for him. What he wanted was the +privilege of helping Billy feed the chickens and throw down hay to his +mules, and then to wander off up the trail to the tunnel that opened out +on the sordid world below. There the restless money-grabbers were +rushing to and fro in their fight for what treasures they knew, but one +kiss from Wilhelmina meant more to him now than all the gold in the +world. But her kisses, like gold, came when least expected and were +denied when he had hoped for them most; and the spell he held over her +seemed once more near to breaking, for on the third day he forgot +himself and talked. No, it was not just talk--he boasted of his mine, +and there for the first time they jarred. + +"Well, I don't care," declared Wilhelmina, "if you have got a rich mine! +That's no reason for saying that Father's is no good; because it is, if +it only had a road." + +Now here, if ever, was the golden opportunity for remaining silent and +looking intelligent; but Wunpost forgot his early resolve and gave way +to an ill-timed jest. + +"Yes," he said, "that's like the gag the Texas land-boomer pulled off +when he woke up and found himself in hell. 'If it only had a little more +rain and good society----'" + +"Now you hush up!" she cried, her lips beginning to tremble. "I guess +we've got enough trouble, without your making fun of it----" + +"No. I'm not making fun of you!" protested Wunpost stoutly. "Haven't I +offered to build you a road? Well, what's the use of fiddling around, +packing silver ore down on burros, when you know from the start it won't +pay? First thing you folks know Judson Eells will come down on you and +grab the whole mine for nothing. Why not take some of my money that I've +buried under a rock and put in that aerial tramway?" + +"Because we don't want to!" answered Wilhelmina tearfully; "my father +wants a _road_. And I don't think it's very kind of you, after all +we have suffered, to speak as if we were _fools_. If it wasn't for +that waterspout that washed away our road we'd be richer than you are, +today!" + +"Oh, I don't know!" drawled Wunpost; "you don't know how rich I am. I +can take my mules and be back here in three days with ten thousand +dollars worth of ore!" + +"You cannot!" she contradicted, and Wunpost's eyes began to bulge--he +was not used to lovely woman and her ways. + +"Well, I'll just bet you I can," he responded deliberately. "What'll you +bet that I can't turn the trick?" + +"I haven't got anything to bet," retorted Wilhelmina angrily, "but if I +did have, and it was right, I'd bet every cent I had--you're always +making big brags!" + +"Yes, so you say," replied Wunpost evenly, "but I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll put up a mule-load of ore against another sweet kiss--like you +give me when I first came in." + +Wilhelmina bowed her head and blushed painfully beneath her curls and +then she turned away. + +"I don't sell kisses," she said, and when he saw she was offended he put +aside his arrogant ways. + +"No, I know, kid," he said, "you were just glad to see me--but why can't +you be glad all the time? Ain't I the same man? Well, you ought to be +glad then, if you see me coming back again." + +"But somebody might kill you!" she answered quickly, "and then I'd be to +blame." + +"They're scared to try it!" he boasted. "I've got 'em bluffed out. They +ain't a man left in the hills. And besides, I told Eells I wouldn't go +near the mine until he came through and sold me that contract. They's +nobody watching me now. And you can take the ore, if you should happen +to win, and build your father a road." + +She straightened up and gazed at him with her honest brown eyes, and at +last the look in them changed. + +"Well, _I_ don't care," she burst out recklessly, "and besides, +you're not going to win." + +"Yes I am," he said, "and I want that kiss, too. Here, pup!" and he +whistled to his dog. + +"Oh, you can't take Good Luck!" she objected quickly. "He's my dog now, +and I want him!" + +She pouted and tossed her pretty head to one side, and Wunpost smiled at +her tyranny. It was something new in their relations with each other and +it struck him as quite piquant and charming. + +"Well, all right," he assented, and Billy hid her face; because +treachery was new to her too. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE CHALLENGE + + +If love begets love and deceit begets deceit, then Wunpost was repaid +according to his merits when Wilhelmina laid claim to his dog. She did +it in a way that was almost coquettish, for coquetry is a form of +deceit; but in the morning, when he was gone, she put his dog on his +trail and followed along behind on her mule. And this, of course, was +rank treachery no less, for her purpose was to discover his mine. If she +found it, she had decided in the small hours of the night, she would +locate it and claim it all; and that would teach him not to make fun of +honest poverty or to try to buy kisses with gold. Because kisses, as she +knew, could never be true unless they were given for love; and love +itself calls for respect, first of all--and who can respect a boaster? + +She reasoned in circles, as the best of us will when trying to justify +doubtful acts; but she traveled in a straight line when she picked up +Wunpost's trail and followed him over the rocks. He had ridden out in +the night, turning straight up the ridge where the mountain-sheep trail +came down; and Good Luck bounded ahead of her, his nose to the ground, +his bobbed tail working like mad. There was a dew on the ground, for the +nights had turned cold and, though he was no hound, Good Luck could +follow the scent, which was only a few hours old. Wunpost had slept till +after midnight and then silently departed, taking only Old Walker and +his mate; and the trail of their sharp-shod shoes was easily discernible +except where they went over smooth rocks. It was here that Wunpost +circled, to throw off possible pursuit; but busy little Good Luck was +frantic to come up to him, and he smelled out the tracks and led on. + +Wunpost had traveled in the night, and, after circling a few times, his +trail straightened out and fell into a dim path which had been traversed +by mules once before. Up and up it led, until Tellurium was exhausted +and Wilhelmina had to get off and walk; and at last, when it was almost +at the summit of the range, it entered a great stone patch and was lost. +But the stone-patch was not limitless, and Wilhelmina was +determined--she rode out around it, and soon Good Luck dropped his nose +and set out straight to the south. To the south! That would take him +into the canyon above Blackwater, where the pocket-miners had their +claims; but surely the great Sockdolager was not over there, for the +district had been worked for years. + +Wilhelmina's heart stopped as she looked out the country from the high +ridge beyond the stone-patch--could it be that his mine was close? Was +it possible that his great strike was right there at their door while +they had been searching for it clear across Death Valley? It was like +the crafty Wunpost always to head north when his mine was hidden safely +to the south; and yet how had it escaped the eyes of the prospectors who +had been combing the hills for months? Where was it possible for a mine +to be hid in all that expanse of peaks? She sat down on the summit and +considered. + +Happy Canyon lay below her, leading off to the west towards Blackwater +and the Sink, and beyond and to the south there was a jumble of +sharp-peaked hills painted with stripes of red and yellow and white. It +was a rough country, and bone dry; perhaps the prospectors had avoided +it and so failed to find his lost mine. Or perhaps he was throwing a +circle out through this broken ground to come back by Hungry Bill's +ranch. Wilhelmina sat and meditated, searching the country with the very +glasses which Wunpost himself had given her; and Good Luck came back and +whined. He had found his master's trail, it led on to the south, and now +Wilhelmina would not come. She did not even take notice of him, and +after watching her face Good Luck turned and ran resolutely on. He knew +whose dog he was, even if she did not; and after calling to him +perfunctorily Wilhelmina let him go, for even this defection might be +used. + +Wunpost was so puffed up with pride over the devotion of his dog that he +would be pleased beyond measure to have him follow, and from her lookout +on the ridge she could watch where Good Luck went and spy out the trail +for miles. It was time to turn back if she was to reach home by dark, +but that white, scurrying form was too good a marker and she followed +him through her glasses for an hour. He would go bounding up some ridge +and plunge down into the next canyon; and then, still running, he would +top another summit until at last he was lost in a black canyon. It was +different from the rest, its huge flank veiled in shadow until it was +black as the entrance to a cavern; and the piebald point that crowned +its southern rim was touched with a broad splash of white. Wilhelmina +marked it well and then she turned back with crazy schemes still chasing +through her brain. + +Time and again Wunpost had boasted that his mine was not staked, and +that it lay there a prize for the first man who found it or trailed him +to his mine. Well, she, Wilhelmina, had trailed him part way; and after +he was gone she would ride to that black canyon and look for big chunks +of gold. And if she ever found his mine she would locate it for herself, +and have her claim recorded; and then perhaps he would change his ways +and stop calling her Billy and Kid. She was not a boy, and she was not a +kid; but a grown-up woman, just as good as he was and, it might be, just +as smart. And oh, if she could only find that hidden mine and dig out a +mule-load of gold! It would serve him right, when he came back from Los +Angeles or from having a good time inside, to find that his mine had +been jumped by a girl and that she had taken him at his word. He had +challenged her to find it, and dared her to stake it--very well, she +would show him what a desert girl can do, once she makes up her mind to +play the game. + +He was always exhorting her to play the game, and to forget all that +righteousness stuff--as if being righteous was worse than a crime, and a +reflection upon the intelligence as well. But she would let him know +that even the righteous can play the game, and if she could ever stake +his mine she would show him no mercy until he confessed that he had been +wrong. And then she would compel him to make his peace with Eells +and--but that could be settled later. She rode home in a whirl, now +imagining herself triumphant and laying down the law to him and Eells; +then coming back to earth and thinking up excuses to offer when her +lover returned. He might find her tracks, where she had followed on his +trail--well, she would tell him about Good Luck, and how he had led her +up the trail until at last he had run away and left her. And if he +demanded the kiss--instead of asking for it nicely--well, that would be +a good time to quarrel. + +It was almost Machiavellian, the way she schemed and plotted, and upon +her return home she burst into tears and informed her mother that Good +Luck was lost. But her early training in the verities now stood her in +good stead, for Good Luck was lost; so of course she was telling the +truth, though it was a long way from being the whole truth. And the +tears were real tears, for her conscience began to trouble her the +moment she faced her mother. Yet as beginners at poker often win through +their ignorance, and because nobody can tell when they will bluff, so +Wilhelmina succeeded beyond measure in her first bout at "playing the +game." For if her efforts lacked finesse she had a life-time of +truth-telling to back up the clumsiest deceit. And besides, the +Campbells had troubles of their own without picking at flaws in their +daughter. She had come to an age when she was restive of all restraint +and they wisely left her alone. + +The second day of Wunpost's absence she went up to her father's mine and +brought back the burros, packed with ore; but on the third day she +stayed at home, working feverishly in her new garden and watching for +Wunpost's return. His arm was not yet healed and he might injure it by +digging, or his mules might fly back and hurt him; and ever since his +departure she had thought of nothing else but those Apaches who had +twice tried to murder him. What if they had spied him from the heights +and followed him to his mine, or waylaid him and killed him for his +money? She had not thought of that when she had made their foolish bet, +but it left her sick with regrets. And if anything happened to him she +could never forgive herself, for she would be the cause of it all. She +watched the ridge till evening, then ran up to her lookout--and there he +was, riding in from the _north_. Her heart stood still, for who +would look for him there; and then as he waved at her she gathered up +her hindering skirts and ran down the hill to meet him. + +He rode in majestically, swaying about on his big mule; and behind him +followed his pack-mule, weighed down with two kyacks of ore, and Good +Luck was tied on the pack. Nothing had happened to him, he was safe--and +yet something must have happened, for he was riding in from the north. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" she panted as he dropped down to greet her, and +before she knew it she had rushed into his arms and given him the kiss +and more. "I was afraid the Indians had killed you," she explained, and +he patted her hands and stood dumb. Something poignant was striving +within him for expression, but he could only pat her hands. + +"Nope," he said and slipped his arm around her waist, at which +Wilhelmina looked up and smiled. She had intended to quarrel with him, +so he would depart for Los Angeles and leave her free to go steal his +mine--but that was aeons ago, before she knew her own heart or realized +how wrong it would be. + +"You like me; don't you, kid?" he remarked at last, and she nodded and +looked away. + +"Sometimes," she admitted, "and then you spoil it all. You must take +your arm away now." + +He took his arm away, and then it crept back again in a rapturous, +bear-like hug. + +"Aw, quit your fooling, kid," he murmured in her ear, "you know you like +me a lot. And say, I'm going to ask you a leading question--will you +promise to answer 'Yes'?" + +He laughed and let her go, all but one hand that he held, and then he +drew her back. + +"You know what I mean," he said. "I want you to be my wife." + +He waited, but there was no answer; only a swaying away from him and a +reluctant striving against his grip. "Come on," he urged, "let's go in +to Los Angeles and you can help me spend my money. I've got lots of it, +kid, and it's yours for the asking--the whole or any part of it. But +you're too pretty a girl to be shut up here in Jail Canyon, working your +hands off at packing ore and slaving around like Hungry Bill's +daughters----" + +"What do you mean?" she demanded, striking his hands aside and turning +to face him angrily, and Wunpost saw he had gone too far. + +"Aw, now, Wilhelmina," he pleaded, then fell into a sulky silence as she +tossed back her curls and spoke. + +"Don't you think," she burst out, "that I like to work for my father? +Well, I do; and I ought to do more! And I'd like to know where Hungry +Bill comes in----" + +"He don't!" stated Wunpost, who was beginning to see red; but she rushed +on, undeterred. + +"----because you don't need to think I'm a _squaw_. We may be poor, +but you can't buy _me_--and my father doesn't need to keep +_watch_ of me. I guess I've been brought up to act like a lady, if +I did--oh, I just hate the sight of you!" + +She ended a little weakly, for the memory of that kiss made her blush +and hang her head; but Wunpost had been trained to match hate with a +hate, and he reared up his mane and stepped back. + +"Aw, who said you were a squaw?" he retorted arrogantly. "But you might +as well be, by grab! Only old Hungry Bill takes his girls down to town, +but you never git to go nowhere." + +"I don't want to go!" she cried in a passion. "I want to stay here and +help all I can. But all you talk about now is how much money you've got, +as if nothing else in the world ever counts." + +"Well, forget it!" grumbled Wunpost, swinging up on his mule and +starting off up the canyon. "I'll go off and give you a rest. And maybe +them girls in Los Angeles won't treat me quite so high-headed." + +"I don't care," began Wilhelmina--but she did, and so she stopped. And +then the old plan, conceived aeons ago, rose up and took possession of +her mind. She followed along behind him, and already in her thoughts she +was the owner of the Sockdolager Mine. She held it for herself, without +recognizing his claims or any that Eells might bring; and while she dug +out the gold and shoveled it into sacks they stood by and looked on +enviously. But when her mules were loaded she took the gold away and +gave it to her father for his road. + +"I don't care!" she repeated, and she meant it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE FINE PRINT + + +A week passed by, and Wilhelmina rode into Blackwater and mailed a +letter to the County Recorder; and a week later she came back, to +receive a letter in return and to buy at the store with gold. And then +the big news broke--the Sockdolager had been found--and there was a +stampede that went clear to the peaks. Blackwater was abandoned, and +swarming again the next day with the second wave of stampeders; and the +day after that John C. Calhoun piled out of the stage and demanded to +see Wilhelmina. He hardly knew her at first, for she had bought a new +dress; and she sat in an office up over the bank, talking business with +several important persons. + +"What's this I hear?" he demanded truculently, when he had cleared the +room of all callers. "I hear you've located my mine." + +"Yes, I have," she admitted. "But of course it wasn't yours--and +besides, you said I could have it." + +"Where is it at?" he snapped, sweating and fighting back his hair, and +when she told him he groaned. + +"How'd you find it?" he asked, and then he groaned again, for she had +followed his own fresh trail. + +"Stung!" he moaned and sank down in a chair, at which she dimpled +prettily. + +"Yes," she said, "but it was all for your own good. And anyway, you +dared me to do it." + +"Yes, I did," he assented with a weary sigh. "Well, what do you want me +to do?" + +"Why, nothing," she returned. "I'm going to sell out to Mr. Eells +and----" + +"To Eells!" he yelled. "Well, by the holy, jumping Judas--how much is he +going to give you?" + +"Forty thousand dollars and----" + +"_Forty thousand!_ Say, she's worth forty _million_! For +cripes' sake--have you signed the papers?" + +"No, I haven't, but----" + +"Well, then, _don't_! Don't you do it--don't you dare to sign +anything, not even a receipt for your money! Oh, my Lord, I just got +here in time!" + +"But I'm going to," ended Wilhelmina, and then for the first time he +noticed the look in her eye. It was as cold and steely as a +gun-fighter's. + +"Why--what's the matter?" he clamored. "You ain't sore at me, are you? +But even if you are, don't sign any papers until I tell you about that +mine. How much ore have you got in sight?" + +"Why, just that one vein, where it goes under the black rock----" + +"They's two others!" he panted, "that I covered up on purpose. Oh, my +Lord, this is simply awful." + +"Two others!" echoed Wilhelmina, and then she sat dumb while a scared +look crept into her eyes. "Well, I didn't know that," she went on at +last, "and of course we lost everything, that other time. So when Mr. +Eells offered me forty thousand cash and agreed to release you from that +grubstake contract----" + +"You throwed the whole thing away, eh?" + +He had turned sullen now and petulantly discontented and the fire +flashed back into her eyes. + +"Well, is that all the thanks I get? I thought you _wanted_ that +contract!" + +"I did!" he complained, "but if you'd left me alone I'd've got it away +from him for nothing. But forty thousand dollars! Say, what's your +doggoned hurry--have you got to sell out the first day?" + +"No, but that time before, when he tried to buy us out I held on until I +didn't get anything. And father has been waiting for his road so +long----" + +"Oh, that road again!" snarled Wunpost. "Is that all you think about? +You've thrown away millions of dollars!" + +"Well, anyway, I've got the road!" she answered with spirit, "and that's +more than I did before. If I'd followed my own judgment instead of +taking your advice----" + +"Your judgment!" he mocked; "say, shake yourself, kid--you've pulled the +biggest bonehead of a life-time." + +"I don't care!" she answered, "I'll get forty thousand dollars. And if +Father builds his road our mine will be worth millions, so why shouldn't +I let this one go?" + +"Oh, boys!" sighed Wunpost and slumped down in his chair, then roused up +with a wild look in his eyes. "You haven't signed up, have you?" he +demanded again. "Well, thank God, then, I got here in time!" + +"No you didn't," she said, "because I told him I'd do it and we've +already drawn up the papers. At first he wouldn't hear to it, to release +you from your contract; but when I told him I wouldn't sell without it, +he and Lapham had a conference and they're downstairs now having it +copied. There are to be three copies, one for each of us and one for +you, because of course you're an interested party. And I thought, if you +were released, you could go out and find another mine and----" + +"Another one!" raved Wunpost. "Say, you must think it's easy! I'll never +find another one in a life-time. Another Sockdolager? I could sell that +mine tomorrow for a million dollars, cash; it's got a hundred thousand +dollars in sight!" + +"Well, that's what you told me when we had the Willie Meena, and now +already they say it's worked out--and I know Mr. Eells isn't rich. He +had to send to Los Angeles to get the money for this first payment----" + +"What, have you accepted his _money_?" shouted Wunpost accusingly, +and Wilhelmina rose to her feet. + +"Mr. Calhoun," she said, "I'll have you to understand that I own this +mine myself. And I'm not going to sit here and be yelled at like a +Mexican--not by you or anybody else." + +"Oh, it's yours, is it?" he jeered. "Well, excuse me for living; but who +came across it in the first place?" + +"Well, you did," she conceded, "and if you hadn't been always bragging +about it you might be owning it yet. But you were always showing off, +and making fun of my father, and saying we were all such +_fools_--so I thought I'd just _show_ you, and it's no use +talking now, because I've agreed to sell it to Eells." + +"That's all right, kid," he nodded, after a long minute of silence. "I +reckon I had it coming to me. But, by grab, I never thought that little +Billy Campbell would throw the hooks into me like this." + +"No, and I wouldn't," she returned, "only you just treated us like dirt. +I'm glad, and I'd do it again." + +"Well, I've learned one thing," he muttered gloomily; "I'll never trust +a woman again." + +"Now isn't that just like a man!" exclaimed Wilhelmina indignantly. "You +know you never trusted anybody. I asked you one time where you got all +that ore and you looked smart and said: 'That's a question. If I'd tell +you, you'd know the answer.' Those were the very words you said. And now +you'll never trust a woman again!" + +She laughed, and Wunpost rose slowly to his feet, but he did not get out +of the door. + +"What's the matter?" she taunted; "did 'them Los Angeles girls' fool +you, too? Or am I the only one?" + +"You're the only one," he answered ambiguously, and stood looking at her +queerly. + +"Well, cheer up!" she dimpled, for her mood was gay. "You'll find +another one, somewhere." + +"No I won't," he said; "you're the only one, Billy. But I never looked +for nothing like this." + +"Well, you told me to get onto myself and learn to play the game, and +finally I took you at your word." + +"Yes," he agreed, "I can't say a word. But these Blackwater stiffs will +sure throw it into me when they find I've been trimmed by a girl. The +best thing I can do is to drift." + +He put his hand on the door-knob, but she knew he would not go, and he +turned back with a sheepish grin. + +"What do the folks think about this?" he inquired casually, and +Wilhelmina made a face. + +"They think I'm just _awful_!" she confessed. "But I don't +care--I'm tired of being poor." + +"Don't reckon there'll be another cloudburst, do you, about the time you +get your road built?" + +She grew sober at that and then her eyes gleamed. + +"I don't care!" she repeated, "and besides, I didn't steal this. You +told me I could have it, you know." + +"Too fine a point for me," he decided. "We'll just see, after you build +your new road." + +"Well, I'm going to build it," she stated, "because he'll worry himself +to death. And I don't care what happens to me, as long as he gets his +road." + +"Well, I've seen 'em that wanted all kinds of things, but you're the +first one that wanted a road. And so you're going to sign this contract +if it loses you a million dollars?" + +"Yes, I am," she said. "We've drawn it all up and I've given him my +word, so there's nothing else to do." + +"Yes, there is," he replied. "Tell him you've changed your mind and want +a million dollars. Tell him that I've come back and don't want that +grubstake contract and that you'll take it all in cash." + +"No," she frowned, "now there's no use arguing, because I've fully made +up my mind. And if----" She paused and listened as steps came down the +hall. "They're coming," she said and smiled. + +There was a rapid patter of feet and Lapham rapped and came in, bearing +some papers and his notary's stamp; but when he saw Wunpost he stopped +and stood aghast, while his stamp fell to the floor with a bang. + +"Why, why--oh, excuse me!" he broke out, turning to dart through the +door; but the mighty bulk of Eells had blocked his way and now it forced +him back. + +"Why--what's this?" demanded Eells, and then he saw Wunpost and his lip +dropped down and came up. "Oh, excuse me, Miss Campbell," he burst out +hastily, "we'll come back--didn't know you were occupied." He started to +back out and Wunpost and Wilhelmina exchanged glances, for they had +never seen him flustered before. But now he was stampeded, though why +they could not guess, for he had never feared Wunpost before. + +"Oh, don't go!" cried Wilhelmina; "we were just waiting for you to come. +_Please_ come back--I want to have it over with." + +She flew to the door and held it open and Eells and his lawyer filed in. + +"Don't let me disturb you," said Wunpost grimly and stood with his back +to the wall. There was something in the wind, he could guess that +already, and he waited to see what would happen. But if Eells had been +startled his nerve had returned, and he proceeded with ponderous +dignity. + +"This won't take but a moment," he observed to Wilhelmina as he spread +the papers before her. "Here are the three copies of our agreement +and"--he shook out his fountain pen--"you put your name right there." + +"No you don't!" spoke up Wunpost, breaking in on the spell, "don't sign +nothing that you haven't read." + +He fixed her with his eyes and as Wilhelmina read his thoughts she laid +down the waiting pen. Eells drew up his lip, Lapham shuffled uneasily, +and Wilhelmina took up the contract. She glanced through it page by +page, dipping in here and there and then turning impatiently ahead; and +as she struggled with its verbiage the sweat burst from Eells' face and +ran unnoticed down his neck. + +"All right," she smiled, and was picking up the pen when she paused and +turned hurriedly back. + +"Anything the matter?" croaked Lapham, clearing his throat and hovering +over her, and Wilhelmina looked up helplessly. + +"Yes; please show me the place where it tells about that contract--the +one for Mr. Calhoun." + +"Oh--yes," stammered Lapham, and then he hesitated and glanced across at +Eells. "Why--er----" he began, running rapidly through the sheets, and +John C. Calhoun strode forward. + +"What did I tell you?" he said, nodding significantly at Wilhelmina and +grabbing up the damning papers. "That'll do for you," he said to Lapham. +"We'll have you in the Pen for this." And when Lapham and Eells both +rushed at him at once he struck them aside with one hand. For they did +not come on fighting, but all in a tremble, clutching wildly to get back +the papers. + +"I knowed it," announced Wunpost; "that clause isn't there. This is one +time when we read the fine print." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A COME-BACK + + +It takes an iron nerve to come back for more punishment right after a +solar plexus blow, but Judson Eells had that kind. Phillip F. Lapham +went to pieces and began to beg, but Eells reached out for the papers. + +"Just give me that contract," he suggested amiably; "there must be some +mistake." + +"Yes, you bet there's a mistake," came back Wunpost triumphantly, "but +we'll show these papers to the judge. This ain't the first time you've +tried to put one over, but you robbed us once before." + +He turned to Wilhelmina, whose eyes were dark with rage, and she nodded +and stood close beside him. + +"Yes," she said, "and I was selling it for almost nothing, just to get +that miserable grubstake. Oh, I think you just ought to be--hung!" + +She took one of the contracts and ran through it to make sure, and Eells +coughed and sent Lapham away. + +"Now let's sit down," he said, "and talk this matter over. And if, +through an oversight, the clause has been left out perhaps we can make +other arrangements." + +"Nothing doing," declared Wunpost. "You're a crook and you know it; and +I don't want that grubstake contract, nohow. And there's a feller in +town that I know for a certainty will give five hundred thousand +dollars, cash." + +"Oh, no!" protested Eells, but his glance was uneasy and he smiled when +Wilhelmina spoke up. + +"Well, I _do_!" she said. "I want that grubstake contract +cancelled. But forty thousand dollars----" + +"I'll give you more," put in Eells, suddenly coming to life. "I'll bond +your mine for a hundred thousand dollars if you'll give me a little more +time." + +"And will you bring out that grubstake contract and have it cancelled in +my presence?" demanded Wilhelmina peremptorily, and Eells bowed before +the storm. + +"Yes, I'll do that," he agreed, "although a hundred thousand +dollars----" + +"There's a hundred thousand in sight!" broke in Wunpost intolerantly. +"But what do you want to trade with a crook like that for?" he demanded +of Wilhelmina, "when I can get you a certified check? Is he the only man +in town that can buy your mine? I'll bet you I can find you twenty. And +if you don't get an offer of five hundred thousand cash----" + +"I'll make it two hundred," interposed Judson Eells hastily, "and +surrender the cancelled grubstake!" + +"I don't _want_ the danged grubstake!" burst out Wunpost +impatiently. "What good is it now, when my claim has been jumped and I +ain't got a prospect in sight? No, it ain't worth a cent, now that the +Sockdolager is located, and I don't want it counted for anything." + +"But _I_ want it," objected Wilhelmina, "and I'm willing to let it +count. But if others will pay me more----" + +"I'll bond your mine," began Judson Eells desperately, "for four hundred +thousand dollars----" + +"Don't you do it," came back Wunpost, "because under a bond and lease he +can take possession of your property. And if he ever gits a-hold of +it----" + +"I'm talking to Miss Campbell," blustered Eells indignantly, but his +guns were spiked again. Wilhelmina knew his record too well, for he had +driven her from the Willie Meena, and yet she lingered on. + +"Suppose," she said at last, "I should sell my mine elsewhere; how much +would you take for that grubstake?" + +"I wouldn't sell it at any price!" returned Judson Eells instantly. "I'm +convinced that he has other claims." + +"Well, then, how much will you give me in cash for my mine and throw the +grubstake in?" + +"I'll give you four hundred thousand dollars in four yearly +payments----" + +"Don't you do it," butted in Wunpost, but Wilhelmina turned upon him and +he read the decision in her eye. + +"I'll take it," she said. "But this time the papers will be drawn up by +a lawyer that I will hire. And I must say, Mr. Eells, I think the way +you changed those papers----" + +"It ought to put him in the Pen," observed Wunpost vindictively. "You're +easy--and you're compounding a felony." + +"Well, I don't know what that is," answered Wilhelmina recklessly, "but +anyway, I'll get that grubstake." + +"Well, I know one thing," stated Wunpost. "I'm going to keep these +papers until he makes the last of those payments. Because if he don't +dig that gold out inside of four years it won't be because he don't +_try_." + +"No, you give them to me," she demanded, pouting, and Wunpost handed +them over. This was a new one on him--Wilhelmina turning pouty! But the +big fight was over, and when Eells went away she dismissed John C. +Calhoun and cried. + +It takes time to draw up an ironclad contract that will hold a man as +slippery as Eells, but two outside lawyers who had come in with the rush +did their best to make it air-tight. And even after that Wunpost took it +to Los Angeles to show a lawyer who was his _friend_. When it came +back from the friend there was a proviso against everything, including +death and acts of God. But Judson Eells signed it and made a first +payment of twenty-five thousand dollars down, after which John C. +Calhoun suddenly dropped out of sight before Wilhelmina could thank him. +She heard of him later as being in Los Angeles, and then he came back +through Blackwater; but before she could see him he was gone again, on +some mysterious errand into the hills. Then she returned to the ranch +and missed him again, for he went by without making a stop. A month had +gone by before she met him on the street, and then she _knew_ he +was avoiding her. + +"Why, good morning, Miss Campbell," he exclaimed, bowing gallantly; +"how's the mine and every little thing? You're looking fine, there's +nothing to it; but say, I've got to be going!" + +He started to rush on, but Wilhelmina stopped him and looked him +reproachfully in the eye. + +"Where have you been all the time?" she chided. "I've got something I +want to give you." + +"Well, keep it," he said, "and I'll drop in and get it. See you later." +And he started to go. + +"No, wait!" she implored, tagging resolutely after him, and Wunpost +halted reluctantly. "Now I _know_ you're mad at me," she charged; +"that's the first time you ever called me Miss Campbell." + +"Is that so?" he replied. "Well, it must have been the clothes. When you +wore overalls you was Billy, and that white dress made it Wilhelmina; +and now it's Miss Campbell, and then some." + +He stopped and mopped the sweat from his perspiring brow, but he refused +to meet her eye. + +"Won't you come up to my office?" she asked very meekly. "I've got +something important to tell you." + +"Is that feller Eells trying to beat you out of your money?" he demanded +with sudden heat, but she declined to discuss business on the street. In +her office she sat him down and closed the door behind them, then drew +out a contract from her desk. + +"Here's that grubstake agreement, all cancelled," she said, and he took +it and grunted ungraciously. + +"All right," he rumbled; "now what's the important business? Is the bank +going broke, or what?" + +"Why, no," she answered, beginning to blink back the tears, "what makes +you talk like that?" + +"Well, I was just into Los Angeles, trying to round up that bank +examiner, and I thought maybe he'd made his report." + +"What--really?" she cried, "don't you think the bank is safe? Why, all +my money is there!" + +"How much you got?" he asked, and when she told him he snorted. +"Twenty-five thousand, eh?" he said. "How'd he pay you--with a check? +Well, he might not have had a cent. A man that will rob a girl will rob +his depositors--you'd better draw out a few hundred." + +She rose up in alarm, but something in his smile made her sit down and +eye him accusingly. + +"I know what you're doing," she said at last; "you're trying to break +his bank. You always said you would." + +"Oh, that stuff!" he jeered, "that was nothing but hot air. I'm a +blow-hard--everybody knows that." + +She looked at him again, and her face became very grave, for she knew +what was gnawing at his heart. And she was far from being convinced. + +"You didn't thank me," she said, "for returning your grubstake. Does +that mean you really don't care? Or are you just mad because I took away +your mine? Of course I know you are." + +"Sure, I'm mad," he admitted. "Wouldn't you be mad? Well, why should I +thank you for this? You take away my mine, that was worth millions of +dollars, and gimme back a piece of paper." + +He slapped the contract against his leg and thrust it roughly into his +shirt, at which Wilhelmina burst into tears. + +"I--I'm sorry I stole it," she confessed between sobs, "and now Father +and everybody is against me. But I did it for you--so you wouldn't get +killed--and so Father could have his road. And now he won't take it, +because the money isn't ours. He says I'm to return it to you." + +"Well, you tell your old man," burst out Wunpost brutally, "that he's +crazy and I won't touch a cent. I guess I know how to get my rights +without any help from him." + +"Why, what do you mean?" she queried tremulously, but he shut his mouth +down grimly. + +"Never mind," he said, "you just hold your breath, and listen for +something to drop. I ain't through, by no manner of means." + +"Oh, you're going to fight Eells!" she cried out reproachfully. "I just +know something dreadful will happen." + +"You bet your life it will--but not to me. I'm after that old boy's +hide." + +"And won't you take the money?" she asked regretfully, and when he shook +his head she wept. It was not easy weeping, for Wilhelmina was not the +kind that practises before a mirror, and the agony of it touched his +heart. + +"Aw, say, kid," he protested, "don't take on like that--the world hasn't +come to an end. You ain't cut out for this rough stuff, even if you did +steal me blind, but I'm not so sore as all that. You tell your old man +that I'll accept ten thousand dollars if he'll let me rebuild that +road--because ever since it washed out I've felt conscience-stricken as +hell over starting that cloudburst down his canyon." + +He rose up gaily, but she refused to be comforted until he laid his big +hand on her head, and then she sprang up and threw both arms around his +neck and made him give her a kiss. But she did not ask him to forgive +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +WUNPOST HAS A BAD DREAM + + +It is dangerous to start rumors against even the soundest of banks, +because our present-day finance is no more than a house of cards built +precariously on Public Confidence. No bank can pay interest, or even do +business, if it keeps all its money in the vaults; and yet in times of +panic, if a run ever starts, every depositor comes clamoring for his +money. Public confidence is shaken--and the house of cards falls, +carrying with it the fortunes of all. The depositors lose their money, +the bankers lose their money; and thousands of other people in nowise +connected with it are ruined by the failure of one bank. Hence the +committee of Blackwater citizens, with blood in their eye, which called +on John C. Calhoun. + +Since the loss of his mine Wunpost had turned ugly and morose; and his +remarks about Eells, and especially about his bank, were nicely +calculated to get under the rind. He was waiting for the committee, +right in front of the bank; and the moment they began to talk he began +to orate, and to denounce them and everything else in Blackwater. What +was intended as a call-down of an envious and destructive agitator +threatened momentarily to turn into a riot and, hearing his own good +name brought into question, Judson Eells stepped quickly out and +challenged his bold traducer. + +"W'y, sure I said it!" answered Wunpost hotly, "and I don't mind saying +it again. Your bank is all a fake, like your danged tin front; and +you've got everything in your vault except money." + +"Well, now, Mr. Calhoun," returned Judson Eells waspishly, "I'm going to +challenge that statement, right now. What authority have you got for +suggesting that my cash is less than the law requires?" + +"Well," began Wunpost, "of course I don't _know_, but----" + +"No, of course you don't know!" replied Eells with a smile, "and +everybody knows you don't know; but your remarks are actionable and if +you don't shut up and go away I'll instruct my attorney to sue you." + +"Oh, 'shut up,' eh?" repeated Wunpost after the crowd had had its laugh; +"you think I'm a blow-hard, eh? You all do, don't you? Well, I'll tell +you what I'll do." He paused impressively, reached down into several +pockets and pointed a finger at Eells. "I'll bet you," he said, "that +I've got more money in my clothes than you have in your whole danged +bank--and if you can prove any different I'll acknowledge I'm wrong by +depositing my roll in your bank. Now--that's fair enough, ain't it?" + +He nodded and leered knowingly at the gaping crowd as Eells began to +temporize and hedge. + +"I'm a blow-hard, am I?" he shouted uproariously; "my remarks are +actionable, are they? Well, if I should go into court and tell half of +what I know there'd be _two_ men on their way to the Pen!" He +pointed two fingers at Eells and Phillip Lapham and the banker saw a +change in the crowd. Public confidence was wavering, the cold fingers of +doubt were clutching at the hearts of his depositors--but behind it all +he sensed a trap. It was not by accident that Wunpost was on his corner +when the committee of citizens came by; and this bet of his was no +accident either, but part of some carefully laid scheme. The question +was--how much money did Wunpost have? If, unknown to them, he had found +access to large sums and had come there with the money on his person, +then the acceptance of his bet would simply result in a farce and make +the bank a byword and a mocking. If it could be said on the street that +one disreputable prospector had more money in his clothes than the bank, +then public confidence would receive a shrewd blow indeed, which might +lead to disastrous results. But the murmur of doubt was growing, Wunpost +was ranting like a demagogue--the time for a show-down had come. + +"Very well!" shouted Eells, and as the crowd began to cheer the +committee adjourned to the bank. Eells strode in behind the counter and +threw the vault doors open, his cashier and Lapham made the count, and +when Wunpost was permitted to see the cash himself his face fell and he +fumbled in his pockets. + +"You win," he announced, and while all Blackwater whooped and capered he +deposited his roll in the bank. It was a fabulously big roll--over forty +thousand dollars in five hundred and thousand dollar bills--but he +deposited it all without saying a word and went out to buy the drinks. + +"That's all right," he said, "the drinks are on me. But I wanted to know +that that money was _safe_ before I went in and put it in the +bank." + +It was a great triumph for Eells and a great boost for his bank, and he +insisted in the end upon shaking hands with Wunpost and assuring him +there was no hard feeling. Wunpost took it all grimly, for he claimed to +be a sport, but he saddled up soon after and departed for the hills, +leaving Blackwater delirious with joy. So old Wunpost had been stung and +called again by the redoubtable Judson Eells, and the bank had been +proved to be perfectly sound and a credit to the community it served! It +made pretty good reading for the _Blackwater Blade_, which had +recently been established in their midst, and the committee of boosters +ordered a thousand extra copies and sent them all over the country. That +was real mining stuff, and every dollar of Wunpost's money had been dug +from the Sockdolager Mine. Eells set to work immediately to build him a +road and to order the supplies and machinery, and as the development +work was pushed towards completion John C. Calhoun was almost forgotten. +He was gone, that was all they knew, and if he never came back it would +be soon enough for Eells. + +But there was one who still watched for the prodigal's return and longed +ardently for his coming, for Wilhelmina Campbell still remembered with +regret the days when their ranch had been his goal. No matter where he +had been, or what desperate errand took him once more into the hills, he +had headed for their ranch like a homing pigeon that longs to join its +mates. The portal of her tunnel had been their trysting place, where he +had boasted and raged and denounced all his enemies and promised to +return with their scalps. But that was just his way, and it was harmless +after all, and wonderfully exciting and amusing; but now the ranch was +dead, except for the gang of road-makers who came by from their camp up +the canyon. + +For her father at last had consented to build the road, since Wunpost +had disclaimed all title to the mine; but now it was his daughter who +looked on with a heavy heart, convinced that the money was accursed. She +had stolen it, she knew, from the man who had been her lover and who had +trusted her as no one else; only Wunpost was too proud to make any +protest or even acknowledge he had been wronged. He had accepted his +loss with the grim stoicism of a gambler and gone out again into the +hills, and the only thought that rose up to comfort her was that he had +deposited all his money in the bank. Every dollar, so they said; and +when he had bought his supplies the store-keeper had had to write out +his check! But anyway he was safe, for now everybody knew that he had no +money on his person; and when he came back he might stop at the ranch +and she could tell him about the road. + +It was being built by contract, and more solidly than ever, and already +it was through the gorge and well up the canyon towards Panamint and the +Homestake Mine. And the mud and rocks that the cloudburst had deposited +had been dug out and cleared away from their trees; the ditch had been +enlarged, her garden restored and everything left tidy and clean. But +something was lacking and, try as she would, she failed to feel the +least thrill of joy. Their poverty had been hard, and the waiting and +disappointments; but even if the Homestake Mine turned out to be a +world-beater she would always feel that somehow it was _his_. But +when Wunpost came back he did not stop at the ranch--she saw him passing +by on the trail. + +He rode in hot haste, heading grimly for Blackwater, and when he spurred +down the main street the crowd set up a yell, for they had learned to +watch for him now. When Wunpost came to town there was sure to be +something doing, something big that called for the drinks; and all the +pocket-miners and saloon bums were there, lined up to see him come in. +But whether he had made a strike in his lucky way or was back for +another bout with Eells was more than any man could say. + +"Hello, there!" hailed a friend, or pseudo-friend, stepping out to make +him stop at the saloon, "hold on, what's biting you now?" + +"Can't stop," announced Wunpost, spurring on towards the bank, "by grab, +I've had a bad dream!" + +"A dream, eh?" echoed the friend, and then the crowd laughed and +followed on up to the bank. Since Wunpost had lost in his bet with Eells +and deposited all his money in the bank he was looked upon almost with +pride as a picturesque asset of the town. He made talk, and that was +made into publicity, and publicity helped the town. And now this mad +prank upon which he seemed bent gave promise of even greater renown. So +he had had a bad dream? That piqued their curiosity, but they were not +kept long in doubt. Dismounting at the bank, he glanced up at the front +and then made a plunge through the bank. + +"Gimme my money!" he demanded, bringing his fist down with a bang and +making a grab for a check. "Gimme all of it--every danged cent!" + +He started to write and threw the pen to the floor as it sputtered and +ruined his handiwork. + +"Why, what's the matter, Mr. Calhoun?" cried Eells in astonishment, as +the crowd came piling in. + +"Gimme a pen!" commanded Wunpost, and, having seized the cashier's, he +began laboriously to write. "There!" he said, shoving the check through +the wicket; and then he stood waiting, expectant. + +The cashier glanced at the check and passed it back to Eells, who had +hastened behind the grille, and then they looked at each other in alarm. + +"Why--er--this check," began Eells, "calls for forty-two thousand, eight +hundred and fifty-two dollars. Do you want all that money now?" + +"W'y, sure!" shrilled Wunpost, "didn't I tell you I wanted it?" + +"Well, it's rather unusual," went on Judson Eells lamely, and then he +spoke in an aside to his cashier. + +"No! None of that, now!" burst out Wunpost in a fury, "don't you frame +up any monkey-business on me! I want my money, see? And I want it right +now! Dig up, or I'll wreck the whole dump!" + +He brought his hand down again and Judson Eells retired while the +cashier began to count out the bills. + +"Here!" objected Wunpost, "I don't want all that small stuff--where's +those thousand dollar bills I turned in? They're _gone_? Well, for +cripes' sake, did you think they were a _present_?" + +The clerk started to explain, but Wunpost would not listen to him. + +"You're a bunch of crooks!" he burst out indignantly. "I only deposited +that money on a bet! And here you turn loose and spend the whole roll, +and start to pay me back in fives and tens." + +"No, but Mr. Calhoun," broke in Judson Eells impatiently, "you don't +understand how banking is done." + +"Yes I do!" yelled back Wunpost, "but, by grab, I had a dream, and I +dreamt that your danged bank was _broke_! Now gimme my money, and +give it to me quick or I'll come in there and git it myself!" + +He waited, grim and watchful, and they counted out the bills while he +nodded and stuffed them into his shirt. And then they brought out gold +in government-stamped sacks and he dropped them between his feet. But +the gold was not enough, and while Eells stood pale and silent the clerk +dragged out the silver from the vault. Wunpost took them one by one, the +great thousand dollar sacks, and added them to the pile at his feet, and +still his demand was unsatisfied. + +"Well, I'm sorry," said Eells, "but that's all we have. And I consider +this very unfair." + +"Unfair!" yelled Wunpost. "W'y, you doggone thief, you've robbed me of +two thousand dollars. But that's all right," he added; "it shows my +dream was true. And now your tin bank _is_ broke!" + +He turned to the crowd, which looked on in stunned silence, and tucked +in his money-stuffed shirt. + +"So I'm a blow-hard, am I?" he inquired sarcastically, and no one said a +word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +IN TRUST + + +There was cursing and wailing and gnashing of teeth in Blackwater's +saloons that night, and some were for hanging Wunpost; but in the +morning, when they woke up and found Eells and Lapham gone, they +transferred their rage to them. A committee composed of the dummy +directors, who had allowed Eells to do what he would, discovered from +the books that the bank had been looted and that Eells was a fugitive +from justice. He had diverted the bank's funds to his own private uses, +leaving only his unsecured notes; and Lapham, the shrewd fox, had levied +blackmail on his chief by charging huge sums for legal service. And now +they were both gone and the Blackwater depositors had been left without +a cent. + +It was galling to their pride to see Wunpost stalking about and +exhibiting his dream-restored wealth; but no one could say that he had +not warned them, and he was loser by two thousand dollars himself. But +even at that they considered it poor taste when he hung a piece of crepe +on the door. As for the God-given dream which he professed to have +received, there were those who questioned its authenticity; but whatever +his hunch was, it had saved him forty-odd thousand dollars, which he had +deposited with Wells Fargo and Company. They had never gone broke yet, +as far as he knew, and they had started as a Pony Express. + +But there was one painful feature about his bank-wrecking triumph which +Wunpost had failed to anticipate, and as poor people who had lost their +all came and stood before the bank he hung his head and moved on. It was +all right for Old Whiskers and men of his stripe, whose profession was +predatory itself; but when the hard-rock miners and road-makers came in +the heady wine of triumph lost its bead. There are no palms of victory +without the dust of vain regrets to mar their gleaming leaves, and when +he saw Wilhelmina riding in from Jail Canyon he retreated to a doorway +and winced. This was to have been his high spot, his magnum of victory; +but somehow he sensed that no great joy would come from it, although of +course she had it coming to her. And Wilhelmina simply stared at the +sign "Bank Closed" and leaned against the door and cried. + +That was too much for Wunpost, who had been handing out five dollars to +all of the workingmen who were broke, and he strode across the street +and approached her. + +"What _you_ crying about?" he asked, and when she shook her head he +shuffled his feet and stood silent. "Come on up to the office," he said +at last, and she followed him to the bare little room. There a short +time before he had interceded to save her when she had all but signed +the contract with Eells; but now at one blow he had destroyed what was +built up and left her without a cent. + +"What you crying about?" he repeated, as she sank down by the desk and +fixed him with her sad, reproachful eyes, "you ought to be tickled to +death." + +"Because I've lost all my money," she answered dejectedly, "and we owe +the contractors for the road." + +"Oh, that's all right," he said, "I'll get you some more money. But say, +didn't you do what I said? Why, I told you the last thing before I went +away to git that first payment money _out_!" + +"You did not!" she denied, "you told me to draw a few hundred. And then +you turned around and deposited all you had, so I thought the bank must +be safe." + +"What--safe with Judson Eells? Safe with Lapham behind the scenes? Say, +you'll never do at all. Have you heard the big news? Well, they've both +skipped to Mexico and the depositors won't get a cent." + +"Then what about my contract?" she burst out tearfully, "I've sold him +my mine and now he's run away, so who's going to make the next payment?" + +"They ain't nobody," grinned Wunpost, "and that's just the point--I told +you I'd come back with his scalp!" + +"Yes, but what about _us_?" she clamored accusingly, "who's going +to pay for the road and all? Oh, I knew all the time that you'd never +forgive me, and now you've just ruined everything." + +"Never asked me to forgive you," defended Wunpost stoutly, "but I don't +mind admitting I was sore. It's all right, of course, if you think you +can play the game--but I never thought you'd rob a _friend_!" + +"But you dared me to!" she cried, "and didn't I offer it for almost +nothing, just to keep you from getting killed? And then, after I'd done +everything to get back your contract you didn't even say 'Thanks!'" + +"No, sure not," he agreed, "what should I be thanking _you_ for? +Did I ask you to get back my grubstake? Not by a long shot I +didn't--what I wanted was my mine, and you turned around and sold it to +Eells. Well, where's your friend now, and his yeller dog, Lapham? +Skally-hooting across the desert for Mexico!" + +"And isn't my contract any good? Won't the bank take it, or anybody? Oh, +I think you're just--just hateful!" + +"You bet I am, kid!" he announced with a swagger, "that's my long suit, +savvy--hate! I never forgive an enemy and I never forget a friend, and +the man don't live that can _do_ me! I'll git him, if it takes a +thousand years!" + +"Oh, there you go," she sighed, dusting her desk off petulantly, and +then she bowed her head in thought. "But I must say," she admitted, "you +have done what you said. But I thought you were just bragging at the +time." + +"They _all_ did!" he beamed, "but I've showed 'em, by grab--they +ain't calling me a blow-hard now. These Blackwater stiffs that wanted to +run me out of town are coming around now to borrow five. They took up +with a crook, just because he boosted for their town, and now they're +left holding the sack. But if they'd listened to me they wouldn't be +left flat, because I told 'em I was after his hide. And say, you +should've seen him, when I came into his bank and shoved that big check +under his nose! He knowed what I was thinking and he never said: 'Boo!' +I showed him whether I knew how to write!" + +He laid back and grinned broadly and Wilhelmina smiled, though a wistful +look had crept into her eyes. + +"Then I suppose," she said, "you're always going to hate _me_, +because of course I did steal your mine. But now I'm glad it's gone, +because I wasn't happy a minute--do you think you can forgive me, +sometime?" + +She glanced up appealingly but his brows had come down and he was +staring at her fiercely. + +"Gone!" he roared, "your mine ain't gone! Ain't you ever read that +contract we framed up? Well, the mine reverts to you the first time a +payment isn't made or _if the buyer becomes a fugitive from +justice_! Yeh, my friend slipped that in along with the rest of it, +about death or an Act of God. Say, that's what you might call head +work!" + +He jerked his chin and grinned admiringly but Wilhelmina did not +respond. + +"Yes," she objected, "but how do I get the money to pay the men for +building the road? Because the twenty-five thousand dollars that I had +in the bank----" + +"Get it?" cried Wunpost, "why you go up to your mine and dig out some +big chunks of gold, and then you send it out and sell it at the mint and +start a little bank of your own. But say, kid, you're all right--I like +you and all that--but something tells me you ain't cut out for business. +Now you'd better just turn this mine over to me----" + +"Oh, _will_ you take it back?" she cried out impulsively, leaping +up and beginning to smile. "I've just _wanted_ to give it to you +but--well, of course I did steal it. And will you take me back for a +friend?" + +"Well, I might," conceded Wunpost, rising slowly to his feet, and then +he shook his head. "But you're no business woman," he stated, "what I +was trying to say was----" + +"Well, let's own it together!" she dimpled impatiently, and Wunpost +accepted the trust. + + + + +"_The Books You Like to Read at the Price You Like to Pay_" + +There Are Two Sides to Everything-- + +--including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When +you feel in the mood for a good romance, refer to the carefully +selected list of modern fiction comprising most of the successes by +prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every +Grosset & Dunlap book wrapper. + +You will find more than five hundred titles to choose from--books for +every mood and every taste and every pocketbook. + +Don't forget the other side, but in case the wrapper is lost, write +to the publishers for a complete catalog. + +There is a Grosset & Dunlap Book for every mood and for every taste. + + + + +CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER'S WESTERN NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +The West is Mr. Seltzer's special field. He has a long list of +novels under his name in book lists, and they all deal with those +vast areas where land is reckoned in miles, not in acres, and +where the population per square mile, excluding cattle, is sparse +and breathing space is ample. It is the West of an older day +than this that Mr. Seltzer handles, as a rule, and a West that few +novelists know so well as he. + + CHANNING COMES THROUGH + LAST HOPE RANCH + THE WAY OF THE BUFFALO + BRASS COMMANDMENTS + WEST! + SQUARE DEAL SANDERSON + "BEAU" RAND + THE BOSS OF THE LAZY Y + "DRAG" HARLAN + THE TRAIL HORDE + THE RANCHMAN + "FIREBRAND" TREVISON + THE RANGE BOSS + THE VENGEANCE OF JEFFERSON GAWNE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +EMERSON HOUGH'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + + THE SHIP OF SOULS + MOTHER OF GOLD + THE COVERED WAGON + NORTH OF 36 + THE WAY OF A MAN + THE SAGEBRUSHER + THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE + THE WAY OUT + THE MAN NEXT DOOR + THE MAGNIFICENT ADVENTURE + THE BROKEN GATE + THE STORY OF THE COWBOY + 54-40 OR FIGHT + THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE + THE PURCHASE PRICE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + A GENTLEMAN OF COURAGE + THE ALASKAN + THE COUNTRY BEYOND + THE FLAMING FOREST + THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN + THE RIVER'S END + THE GOLDEN SNARE + NOMADS OF THE NORTH + KAZAN + BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + THE DANGER TRAIL + THE HUNTED WOMAN + THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + THE GRIZZLY KING + ISOBEL + THE WOLF HUNTERS + THE GOLD HUNTERS + THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + TAPPAN'S BURRO + THE VANISHING AMERICAN + THE THUNDERING HERD + THE CALL OF THE CANYON + WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND + TO THE LAST MAN + THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER + THE MAN OF THE FOREST + THE DESERT OF WHEAT + THE U. P. TRAIL + WILDFIRE + THE BORDER LEGION + THE RAINBOW TRAIL + THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + THE LONE STAR RANGER + DESERT GOLD + BETTY ZANE + THE DAY OF THE BEAST + + LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS + The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, + with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey. + +ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS + + ROPING LIONS IN THE GRAND CANYON + KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE + THE YOUNG LION HUNTER + THE YOUNG FORESTER + THE YOUNG PITCHER + THE SHORT STOP + THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + THE MAD KING + THE MOON MAID + THE ETERNAL LOVER + BANDIT OF HELL'S BEND, THE + CAVE GIRL, THE + LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, THE + TARZAN OF THE APES + TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR + TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN + TARZAN THE TERRIBLE + TARZAN THE UNTAMED + BEASTS OF TARZAN, THE + RETURN OF TARZAN, THE + SON OF TARZAN, THE + JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN + AT THE EARTH'S CORE + PELLUCIDAR + THE MUCKER + A PRINCESS OF MARS + GODS OF MARS, THE + WARLORD OF MARS, THE + THUVIA, MAID OF MARS + CHESSMEN OF MARS, THE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +THE NOVELS OF TEMPLE BAILEY + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +THE BLUE WINDOW + +The heroine, Hildegarde, finds herself transplanted from the middle +western farm to the gay social whirl of the East. She is almost swept off +her feet, but in the end she proves true blue. + +PEACOCK FEATHERS + +The eternal conflict between wealth and love. Jerry, the idealist who +is poor, loves Mimi, a beautiful, spoiled society girl. + +THE DIM LANTERN + +The romance of little Jane Barnes who is loved by two men. + +THE GAY COCKADE + +Unusual short stories where Miss Bailey shows her keen knowledge of +character and environment, and how romance comes to different people. + +THE TRUMPETER SWAN + +Randy Paine comes back from France to the monotony of every-day +affairs. But the girl he loves shows him the beauty in the common place. + +THE TIN SOLDIER + +A man who wishes to serve his country, but is bound by a tie he cannot +in honor break--that's Derry. A girl who loves him, shares his humiliation +and helps him to win--that's Jean. Their love is the story. + +MISTRESS ANNE + +A girl in Maryland teaches school, and believes that work is worthy +service. Two men come to the little community; one is weak, the other +strong, and both need Anne. + +CONTRARY MARY + +An old-fashioned love story that is nevertheless modern. + +GLORY OF YOUTH + +A novel that deals with a question, old and yet ever new--how far +should an engagement of marriage bind two persons who discover they no +longer love. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wunpost, by Dane Coolidge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WUNPOST *** + +***** This file should be named 30578.txt or 30578.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/5/7/30578/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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