Part 14 (1/2)
rock, my gorry, we'd all of us be rollin' in wealth, fer the mountains is made of such. Young feller, ye're wastin' yer time an' ivery dollar ye're sinkin' in these here claims ye've showed me--and thot's no lie I'm tellin' ye, but the truth, an' if ye believe it I'll soon be huntin' another job and ye'll be takin' the train back where ye come from.”
The professor eyed him uncertainly. He looked at the great, singing pines that laced their branches together high over their heads. Fred, he thought, had made a mistake when he hired experienced miners to do this work. It might be better to let Murphy in....
”Still the timber on the claims is worth proving up, and more,” he ventured cautiously, with a sharp glance at Murphy's spectacles.
”A-ah, and there yer right,” Murphy a.s.sented with the upward tilt to his voice. ”An' if it's the timber ye be wantin', I'll say no more about the mine. Four thousand acres minin' claims no better than yer own have I seen held fer the trees on thim--an' ain't it the way some of these ole fellers thot goes around now wit' their two hands in their pants pockets an' no more work t' do wit' 'em than to light up their seegars--ain't it wit' the timber on their minin' claims that they made their pile? A-ah--but them was the good times fer them that had brains. A jacka.s.s like me an' Mike, here, we're the fellers thot went on a lookin' fer gold an' givin' no thought to the trees that stood above. An' thim that took the gold an' the trees, they're the ones thot's payin' wages now to the likes of Mike an' me.”
He straightened his back and sent a speculative glance at the forest around him. ”'Tis long sence the thrick has been worked through,” he mused, turning his plug of tobacco over in his hand, looking for a likely place to sink his stained old teeth. ”Ye'll be kapin' mum about what's in yer mind, young feller, ef ye don't want to bring the dom Forest Service on yer trail. Ef it was me, I'd buy me a bag of salt fer me mines--I would thot.”
”Well, by George!” The professor stared. ”What has salt--?”
”A-ah, an' there's where ye're ign'rant, young feller, wit' all yer buke l'arnin'. 'Tis gold I mean--gold thot ye can show t' thim thot gits cur'us. But if it was me, I'd sink me shaf' in a likelier spot than what this spot is--I wuddn't be bringing up durt like this, an'
be callin' the hole a mine! I kin show ye places where ye kin git the color an' have the luke of a mine if ye haven't the gold. There's better men than you been fooled in these hills. I spint me a winter meself, cuttin' timbers fer me mine--an' no more than a mile from this spot it was--an' in the spring I sinks me shaf' an' not a dom ounce of gold do I git fer me pains!”
”Well, by George! I'll speak to Fred about it. I--I suppose you can be trusted, Murphy?”
Murphy spat far from him and hitched up his sagging overalls. ”Kin any man be trusted?” he inquired sardonically. ”He kin, says I, if it's to his intrust. I'm gittin' my wages fer the diggin', ain't I? Then it's to me intrust to kape on diggin'! Sure, me tongue niver wagged me belly outy a grub-stake yit, young feller! I'm with ye on this, an'
thot's me true word I'm givin' ye.”
The professor hurried off to find Fred and urge him to let Murphy advise them upon the exact sites of their mines. Murphy hung his hammer up in the forked branches of a young oak, and went off to his dinner. Arriving there, he straightway discovered that Mike, besides frying bacon and making a pot of muddy coffee and stirring up a bannock, had been engaged also in what pa.s.sed with him for thinking.
”Them fellers don't know nothin' about minin',” he began when he had poured himself a cup of coffee and turned the pot with the handle toward Murphy. ”They's no gold there, where we're diggin', I know there's no gold! They's no sign of gold. They can dig a hunnerd feet down, an' they won't find no gold! Why, in Minnesota, that time--”
”A-ah, now, le's have none av Minnesota,” Murphy broke in upon Mike's gobbling--no other word expresses Mike's manner of speech, or comes anywhere near to giving any idea of his mushy mouthing of words. ”An'
who iver said they was after gold, now?”
Mike's jaw went slack while he stared dully at his partner. ”An' if they ain't after gold, what they diggin' fer, then?” he demanded, when he had collected what he could of his scattered thoughts.
”A-ah, now, an' thot's a diffrunt story, Mike, me boy.” Murphy broke off a piece of bannock, on the side least burned, and nodded his head in a peculiarly knowing manner. ”Av ye could kape yer tongue quiet fr'm clappin' all ye know, Mike, I cud tell ye somethin'--I cud thot.”
”Wh-why, n.o.budy ever heard _me_ talkin' things that's tol' in secret,”
Mike made haste to a.s.severate. ”Why, one time in Minnesota, they was a feller, he tol' _me_, min' yuh, things 't he wouldn't tell his own mthrrr!” Mike, poor man, could not say mother at all. He just buzzed with his tongue and let it go at that. But Murphy was used to his peculiarities and guessed what he meant.
”An' there's where he showed respick fer the auld lady,” he commended drily, and winked at his cup of coffee.
”An' he tol' _me_, mind yuh, all about a mrrer” (which was as close as he could come to murder) ”an' he _knew_, mind ye, who it was, an' he tol' _me_--an' why, _I_ wouldn't ever say nothin' an' he knew it--I doctrrrred his eyes, mind ye, mind ye, an' the doctrrrs they couldn't do nothin'--an' we was with this outfit that was puttin' in a bridge”
(only he couldn't say bridge to save his life) ”this was 'way back in Minnesota--”
”A-ah, now ye come back to Minnesota, ye better quit yer travelin' an'
eat yer dinner,” quelled Murphy impatiently. ”An' le's hear no more 'bout it.”
Mike laid a strip of scorched bacon upon a chunk of scorched bannock and bit down through the ma.s.s, chewed meditatively and stared into the coals of his camp fire. ”If they ain't diggin' fer gold, then what are they _diggin'_ fer?” he demanded aggressively, and so suddenly that Murphy started.
”A-ah, now, I'll tell ye what they're diggin' fer, but it's a secret, mind ye, and ye must nivver spheak a word av it. They're diggin' fer anguintum, me boy. An' thot's wort' more than gold, an' the likes av me 'n you wadden't know if we was to wade through it, but it's used in the war, I dunno, t' make gas-bags t' kill the inimy, and ye're t' say nawthin' t' n.o.body er they'll likely take an' hang ye fer a spy on the government, but ye're sa-afe, Mike, s' long as ye sthick t' me an' yer job an' say nawthin' t' n.o.body, d' ye see.”
”They'd nivver hang _me_ fer a spy,” Mike gobbled excitedly. ”They'll nivver hang me--why I knowed--”
”A-ah, av yer ivver did ye've fergot it intirely,” Murphy squelched him pitilessly.
Mike gulped down a mouthful and took a swallow of muddy coffee. ”They better look out how they come around _me_,” he threatened vaguely.