Part 49 (1/2)

”Three dollars a day while I was out on it. Four hundred dollars when I'd staked the claim, if the specimens a.s.sayed right.”

”But how could he tell whether you would do the square thing by him?”

Turner grinned.

”It wouldn't be safe to do anything else. Supposing I'd gone round, looking for another buyer, he'd have had me doped or sandbagged before I'd made the sale. You can't fool Mappin. You have to put your job through when you deal with him.”

”It seems to me that you haven't made a success of this particular business,” Andrew remarked.

”I certainly haven't,” the other admitted with a rueful air. ”Your partner has me fixed--he's a smart man. There'll be no three dollars a day for mine when I go home.”

”You have struck bad luck,” said Andrew with a smile. ”I'm not sure you don't deserve it, but that's another matter. And now give me the blankets: we'll take the things along.”

They went on, and when they reached the next wild stream where tracking was necessary Andrew got into the water. Turner gave him a grateful glance, but he afterward did his share of the heaviest work, and when they made camp in the evening he soon went to sleep. When the firelight, leaping up, fell on his shadowy form, Carnally chuckled.

”A handy man; he's going to save us a lot of trouble, and we got him cheap.”

”He's a bit of a rogue, and claim-jumping isn't a creditable profession,” Andrew replied. ”Still, I don't think we ought to take too much advantage of the fellow's necessity. After all, he's only a tool. It's his employer who's really responsible.”

”Just so,” Graham agreed. ”The pity is that he should find men willing to do his dirty work on very moderate pay; but there's no lack of them. There are men you can only dynamite out of the mire, because if you pull them out by gentler means they crawl straight back again.

It's unfortunate, because you meet some with a few likable qualities; I think our new packer is one of these.”

”Their trouble generally begins when they get into the clutches of such a hog as we're up against,” Carnally said. ”He knows how to handle them and it needs some grit to break away from him. We'll get Turner to tell us some of his claim-jumping experiences to-morrow night. You'll find them interesting.”

Supper was finished and they were sitting in camp after a hard day's toil when Carnally cleverly drew the packer out. He was not unwilling and, warming to his subject, recounted incidents that filled Andrew with surprise and disgust. Sitting in the shadow with his eyes fixed on the ragged adventurer, he heard how small sawmill owners had been jockeyed out of the timber leases they were not rich enough to defend; how dams and flumes had been tampered with until their hara.s.sed proprietor sold out his water rights; and the means by which impecunious owners of minerals had been robbed of their claims. Turner occasionally chuckled over the memory of some roguish trick, but, for the most part, his manner was impressively matter-of-fact. Andrew did not think he was drawing much upon his imagination; but it seemed incredible that such things should be done without the men who plotted them and reaped the benefit incurring general odium. After Turner had strolled away, he said something of the kind to Graham.

”The point is,” Graham explained, ”the low-down rascals who are used as tools daren't talk where they'll be heard, and n.o.body attaches much importance to what is said in third-rate saloons. Respectable people don't ask too many questions when they see a prospect of dividends; there may be something not quite straight, but so long as it's well hidden, they don't want to know. Still, I'll say this: if you put the ugly facts square before them, they'll quite often act, even if they have to make some sacrifice to set matters right.”

”Yes,” a.s.sented Andrew; ”I believe that's true. There's a reason why I find it encouraging.”

”Now we'll talk of something else,” Carnally interposed. ”It's my opinion that we ought to leave the water soon, perhaps to-morrow, and push straight across the last height of land for the lode. We want to keep well ahead of the Mappin boys.”

They discussed it until they went to sleep, and the next day they carried the canoe some distance back from the river and carefully hid her in the brush. Farther on they cached part of their stores, and then plunged into a desolate, stony waste. Their journey across it proved uneventful, and at length they came down into the hollow where the lode lay. As it was noon, they ate a meal before anything was said; and then Carnally gave Turner a fis.h.i.+ng-line with a trolling bait on it.

”You go back to the last creek we crossed and catch some trout,” he ordered. ”Stay there until supper, whether you get any or not.”

Turner winked.

”If I catch one with this outfit, it will be a mighty silly trout; the thing's made for spinning behind a canoe on a lake. Don't you want help with your prospecting? I know something about minerals.”

”So do we,” Carnally replied. ”I'd rather hear that you were fond of fis.h.i.+ng, because you're going to get a good deal of it. Every day we're here you'll light out after breakfast and not come back till dark. If we see you from the camp, we'll fire you on the spot.”

”I understand,” said Turner. ”Guess I'll stay out. I've no use for taking the trail without any grub.”

He left them and Carnally turned to Graham.

”We must get our prospecting done before the Mappin gang arrives, and the sooner we start the better. We'll begin where we fired the shot last time, and follow up the vein.”

It proved to be fairly well defined when they set to work with the light tools they had brought, and their task was rendered easier because the small but rapid creek had exposed the strata in scouring out its channel. In some places they picked a hole, in others they fired a charge of giant-powder, carefully separating the specimens they obtained; and when evening came they sat in camp, examining several heaps of stones.

”They're promising,” said Graham. ”The weight is a good rough test, and though it doesn't tell us much about the proportion of lead to silver, I can find out something about that to-morrow. Jake, you might pound this handful of stuff as fine as you can.”