The next day we rode the range to see Joe"s cattle, and the next we started out for a little hunt. It was sitting by a jolly camp-fire, back in the hills of New Mexico, that "Mormon Joe" told me the true story of the robbery of the Black Prince mine and the romance of his life.
Filling his cob pipe with cut-plug, Joe sat looking away over s.p.a.ce toward our hobbled horses and then said:
"Old man, I reckon you remember all about the Black Prince robbery. I don"t forget you were the first man that came to the cooler to see me while I was doing time as a _suspect_. Well, coming right down to the point, _I had the dust all the time_! and the working out of the mystery would be rather interesting reading if it was written up, and, as you are such an accomplished liar, I wouldn"t be surprised if you made it the base-line of one of them yarns of yourn--only, mind you, don"t go too far with it, for it"s as curious as a lie itself. I would not try to improve on it, if I was you. I"ll tell it to you as it was.
"About four days before the robbery, I was introduced to Rachel Rokesby, daughter of one of the partners in the Black Prince. I met her, in what seemed to be a casual way, at Mother Cameron"s hash-foundry, but I found out, a long time afterward, that she had worked for two weeks to bring about the introduction.
"I don"t know as you remember seeing her, but she was a quiet, retiring, well-educated, rosy-cheeked English girl--impressed you right away as being the pure, unrefined article, about twenty-two karat. She "chinned"
me about an hour, that evening, and just cut a cameo of her pretty face right on my old heart.
"Well, course I saw her home, and tried my best to be interesting, but if a fellow ever in his natural life becomes a double-barreled jacka.s.s, it"s just immediately after he falls in love. Why, he ain"t as interesting as the unlettered side of an ore-sack.
"But we got on amazing well; the girl did most of the talking and along toward the last, mentioned that she was in great trouble--of course I wa"n"t interested in that at all. I liked to have broken my neck in getting her to tell me at once if I couldn"t do something to help her, say, for instance, move Raton mountain up agin Pike"s Peak.
"I went home that night, promising to call on her the next trip, not to let any one know I was coming, not to tell anybody I had been there, not for _worlds_ to repeat or intimate what she told me, and she would tell me her trouble from start to finish, and then I could help her, if I wanted to. Well, I wanted to, _bad_.
"I went up to the Rokesby"s cabin, next trip in; it was dark, and as I went up the front walk, I heard the old gentleman going out the back, bound for the village "diggin"s." I had it all to myself--the secret, I mean.
"When I went in, I got about a forty-second squeeze of a neat little hand, and things did look so nice and clean and homelike that I had it on the end of my tongue to ask right then to camp in the place.
"After a few commonplaces, she turned around and asked me if I still wanted to help her and would keep the secret, if I concluded in the end to keep out of her troubles. You bet your life, old man, she didn"t have to wait long for a.s.surance--why I wouldn"t"a waited a minute to have contracted to turn the Mississippi into the Mammoth Cave, if she had asked it.
""Well," says she, finally, "it is not generally known, in fact, isn"t known at all, that the Black Prince is a paying placer, and that papa and Mr. Sanson have been taking out lots of gold for some time. They have over fifty pounds of gold-dust and nuggets hidden under the floor of the old mill."
""Well," says I, "that hadn"t ought to worry you so."
""But that isn"t all the story," she continued; "we have discovered a plot on the part of Mr. Sanson to rob papa of the gold and burn the mill and sluice-boxes, to hide the crime. You will find that every tough in town is his friend, because he buys whisky for them, and they all dislike papa. If he carried out his plan, we would have no redress whatever; all the justices in town can be bribed. The plan is to take the gold, burn the mill, and then accuse papa of the crime. Now, can"t you help me to fool that old villain of a Sanson, and put papa"s half of the money in a safe place?"
"I thought quite a while before I answered; it seemed strange to me that the case should be as she stated, and I half feared I might be made a cat"s-paw and get into trouble, but the girl looked at me so trustingly with her blue eyes and added:
""I am afraid that I am the cause of all the trouble, too. Papa and Sanson got along well until I refused to marry him; after that, the row began--I hate him. He said I would _have_ to marry him before he was done with me--but I won"t!"
""You bet you won"t, darling," says I, before I thought. "Pardon me, Miss Rokesby, but if there is any marrying done around here, I want a hand in the game myself."
"She blushed deeply, looked at the toe of her shoe a minute, and said:
""I"m only eighteen, and am too young to think of marrying. Suppose we don"t talk of that until we get out of the present difficulties."
""Sensible idea," says I. "But when we are out, suppose you and I have a talk on that subject."
"She looked at the toe of her shoe for a minute again, turned red and white around the gills, looked up at me, shyly at first, then fully and fairly, stretched out her hand and said:
""Yes; if you care to."
"Course, I didn"t _care_, or nothing--no more than a man cares for his head.
"I guess that was about a half engagement, anyhow, it"s the only one we ever had. She said it would be ruinous to our plans if I was seen with her then or afterward; and agreed to leave a note at the house for me by next trip, telling me her plan--which she should talk over with her father.
"A couple of days later I got in from a round trip and made a dive for the boarding-house.
""Any mail for me, mother?" I asked old Mrs. Cameron.
""No, young man; I"m sorry to say there ain"t"
""I was anxious to hear from home."
""Too bad; but maybe it"ll come to-morrow."
"I was up to fever heat, but could do nothing but wait. I went to bed late, and, raising up my pillow to put my watch under it, I found a note; it read:
""Midnight, July 17.
""DEAR JOE:
""Just thought of that rule for changing counter-balance you wanted. There has always been a miscalculation about the weight of counter-balance; they are universally _too heavy_. The weights are in pieces; take out two _pieces_; this treatment would even improve a mule sweep. When once out, pieces should be changed or placed where careless or malicious persons cannot get hold of them and replace them. All is well; hope you are the same; will see you some time soon.
""JACK."
"Here was apparently a fool letter from one young railroader to another, but I knew well enough that it was from Rachel and meant something.
"I noticed that it was dated the _next night_; then I commenced to see, and in a few minutes my instructions were plain. The old five-stamp mill was driven by a mule, who wandered aimlessly around a never-ending circle at the end of a long, wooden sweep; this pole extended past the post of the mill a few feet, and had on the short end a box of stones as a counter-weight. I would find two packages of gold there at midnight of July 17.
"I was running one of those old Pittsburgh hogs then, and she had to have her throttle ground the next day, but it was more than likely that she would be ready to go out at 8:30 on her turn; but I arranged to have it happen that the stand-pipe yoke should be broken in putting it up, so that another engine would have to be fired up, and I would lay in.
"I told stories in the roundhouse until nearly ten o"clock that fateful night, and then started for the hash-foundry, dodged into a lumber yard, got onto the rough ground back of town and made a wide detour toward Const.i.tution Gulch, the Black Prince and the mule-sweep. I crept up to the washed ground through some brush and laid down in a path to wait for midnight. I felt a full-fledged sneak-thief, but I thought of Rachel and didn"t care if I was one or not, so long as she was satisfied.
"I looked often at my watch in the moonlight, and at twelve o"clock everything was as still as death. I could hear my own heart beat against my ribs as I sneaked up to that counter-balanced sweep. I got there without accident or incident, found two packages done up in canvas with tarred-string handles; they were heavy but small, and in ten minutes I had them alone with me among the stumps and stones on the little _mesa_ back of town.
"I"ll never forget how I felt there in the dark with all that money that wasn"t mine, and if some one had have said "boo" from behind a stump, I should have probably dropped the boodle and taken to the brush.
"As I approached the town, I realized that I could never get through it to the boarding-house or the roundhouse with those two bundles that _looked like country sausages_. I studied awhile on it and finally put them under an old sc.r.a.per beside the road, and went without them to the shops. I got from my seat-box a clean pair of overalls and jacket and came back without being seen.
"I wrapped one of the packages up in these and boldly stepped out into the glare of the electric lights--I remember I thought the town too darned enterprising.
"One of the first men I met was the marshal, Jack Kelly. He was reported to be a Pinkerton man, and was mistrusted by some of the men, but tried to be friendly and "stand in" with all of us. He slapped me on the back and nearly scared the wits out of me. He insisted on treating me, and I went into a saloon and "took something" with him, in fear and trembling.
The package was heavy, but I must carry it lightly under my arm, as if it were only overclothes.
"I treated in return, and had it charged, because I dare not attempt to get my right hand into my pocket. Jack was disposed to talk, and I feared he was just playing with me like a cat does with a mouse, but I finally got off and deposited my precious burden in my seat-box, under lock and key--then I sneaked back for the second haul. I met Jack and a policeman, on my next trip, and he exclaimed:
""Why, ain"t you gone out yet?" and started off, telling the roundsman to keep the bunkos off me up to the shop. _I thought then I was caught_, but I was not, and the bluecoat bid me a pleasant good-night, at the shop yard.
"When I got near my engine, I was surprised to see Barney Murry, the night machinist, with his torch up on the cab--he was putting in the newly-ground throttle.
"Just before I had decided to emerge from the shadow of the next engine, Barney commenced to yell for his helper, d.i.c.k, to come and help him on with the dome-cover.
"d.i.c.k came with a sandwich in one hand and a can of coffee in the other.
This reminded Barney of his lunch, and setting his torch down on the top of the cab, he scrambled down on the other side and hurried off to the sand-dryer, where the gang used to eat their dyspepsia insurance and swap lies.
"After listening a moment, to be sure I was alone, I stepped lightly to the cab, and in a minute the two heavy and dangerous packages were side by side again.