"Tender-foot, I never would have found this if it hadn"t been for you,"
said he, with something like a tremor in his voice. "Shake!"
"Thank you," said Tom, taking particular pains to keep his hands out of the way. "I"ll take your word for it."
"I won"t squeeze you, honor bright!" said Elam.
That was as good as though Elam had sworn to it, and Tom gave him his hand. He didn"t squeeze it, but he shook it very warmly.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONCLUSION.
I had often heard Tom Mason speak of his "luck" when telling his stories, but I believe he was utterly confounded by the turn his "luck"
had taken in this particular instance. He was too amazed, so much so that he couldn"t speak, while Elam, it was plain to be seen, looked upon him as a lucky omen. In these days he would have been called a "mascot."
I was completely thunderstruck, and if Tom had told me that there was a nugget hidden under the biggest mountain in the valley, and I could have it for the mere fun of digging after it, I believe I should have put faith in his story.
"I wish that nugget could speak," said Elam, bringing his examination to a stop and sitting down with his arm thrown over his find. "I would like to hear it tell of all the places it has been in. After so many years of waiting I have at last secured the object of my ambition, thanks to you, Tom Mason. n.o.body supposed you were going to make yourself rich out here, did they?"
"No, and I don"t suppose they know it now," replied Tom. "Do you really imagine this is the nugget your father had?"
"What is the reason they don"t know it now?" demanded Elam.
"Because the find isn"t mine."
"Didn"t I say that I would give you half of it the moment we dug it up?
You will find that I am a man of my word, Tom."
"How much do you suppose the thing will pan out?" I said, seizing the nugget with both hands and trying to lift it from the ground. "It is heavier than it was a while ago."
"That nugget will pan out between five and eight thousand dollars," said Elam. "That"s the price that Spaniard put upon it."
"Do you think this is the same find your father had?" continued Tom. "A good many people have been searching for gold since then, and a great many nuggets of the size of this one have been dug up."
"That"s the reason I wish it could speak," said Elam. "Until I know differently I shall believe it is the same nugget. Anyway it is mine.
Now, boys, I am going to Texas as soon as I can get there. You will go with me, of course."
"What are you going down there for?" asked Tom.
"To buy some cattle. You can get them down there for half what they are worth up here, and bringing them home across the plains will leave them in good order for next winter."
"I don"t know whether I will go or not. There may be some lawless men down there, and you will have money on your person."
"Well, what of it? A man that will stand up the way you did against the Red Ghost is not going to be afraid of lawless men! You must go, Tom.
You are a lucky omen."
As for myself, I did some thinking, too. There was my herd, for instance; a small one to be sure, but large enough to keep me in that country. If Uncle Ezra would sell his sheep and buy the herd, I would be a free man and willing to go to Texas, or any other place to see some fun. And that there was fun there I could readily believe. All men who had got into a "little trouble" in the more settled portions of the community came there to get out of reach of the law, and in a new country they did pretty near as they had a mind to. It would not be a safe thing for Elam to go down there with one or two thousand dollars in his pocket, but I for one was not unwilling to back him up.
"Well, boys, go to sleep on it, and tell me how it looks in the morning," said Elam, jumping to his feet and making a place for his nugget in one of the pack-saddles. "I wish one of you boys would go back and get that pick and shovel that we used to dig this thing up, for we want to have them all with us. They will say we were so excited over finding the gold that we couldn"t think of anything else."
In due time a place had been made in the pack-saddle for the nugget, and we were on the back track. We travelled a good deal faster in going than we did in coming, for we didn"t have to stop to examine signs on the way, and one day, to Tom"s intense surprise, we found the springs close before us. Of course we had talked about Elam"s new idea of going to Texas to buy his cattle, and we were pretty well decided that if he went we should go too. We could see that Elam was greatly pleased over our decision, but he did not have much to say about it.
"We must stay here long enough to help Uncle Ezra down with his sheep,"
said Elam, "and then we"ll put out. I wish he would lend me a thousand or two on this, and take it up to Denver and get it panned out himself.
I will take just what he says it"s worth; wouldn"t you, Tom?"
"Why of course I would."
"Well, you have got a say so in it, and I shan"t do a thing with it unless you say the word," said Elam. "You might as well give up and take your half."
"Perhaps Tom would rather take his share and send it home," said I.
"No, I wouldn"t," said Tom. "My uncle has not yet had time to get over his pet. It will take him a year to do that, and then I will write to him."
On the third night after we camped at the springs we drew up before the door of Uncle Ezra"s sheep ranch. Boy-like, we had already made up our minds that we would not acknowledge to anything; if Uncle Ezra wanted to look into our pack-saddles and see what sort of luck we had had, he could examine them himself. Uncle Ezra was alone. When he was in the woods a more devoted follower of the gun could not be found; but he always liked the heat of the fire and preferred a comfortable bunk to sleep in, when he was within reach of the home ranch. Ben Hastings had gone back to the fort. His father always liked to have him around when there was danger in the air, and he had sent a sergeant and two men after him.
"Halloa, boys!" said Uncle Ezra, "what sort of luck have you met with? I think the last time I saw you, you told me that the next time I saw your smiling faces you would have the nugget with you. I don"t see any nugget."
"We haven"t had any luck at all," said Elam. "We ate up the grub, and now I am going to cattle-herding."
"Elam," said Uncle Ezra severely, "you are not telling me the truth!
There is something back of this."
"All right. Come out and see for yourself."
Tom and I removed the saddles from our horses, and at the same time Uncle Ezra came out and began his examination. With the very first move he made he hit the nugget. I never saw a man more completely taken aback than he was.
"Hoop-pe!" was the yell he sent up which awoke the echoes far and near.
"By gum, if you haven"t got it. I don"t want a cent!"
In less time than it takes to tell it Uncle Ezra had lifted out the nugget and carried it into the cabin beside the fire, so that he could have a light to see by. When we got in there he had the nugget on the floor, and was pawing it over to see if it was that or something else which we had tried to palm off on him. When he saw Elam he got up and gave his hand a good hearty shake. I looked at Tom and I saw him put his hands into his pocket. I will bet you he would not have had that shake for his share of the nugget.
"Well, sir, you got it," said Uncle Ezra. "I declare if it don"t beat the world!"
"Now, while you are shaking me up you don"t want to forget Tom," said Elam. "If it hadn"t been for him I shouldn"t have found it at all."
"Do you mean to say that Tom found it?"
"Certainly, for he found the trail that led to it," replied Elam; and then he went on to give Uncle Ezra a brief sketch of the manner in which Tom had got at the bottom of things. He added that if he hadn"t shown Tom the place where the man camped, the nugget would have been up there now. Uncle Ezra listened in amazement, and when Elam stopped speaking he thrust out his hand to Tom.
"Where in the world did you learn to trail?" said he. "Shake."
"Thank you," said Tom, retreating a step or two. "I"ll take your word for it. I wouldn"t have such a shaking up as you gave Elam a minute ago for anything."
Uncle Ezra laughed, and pulled a camp-stool near to the fire and sat down upon it. He couldn"t get the nugget out of his head. He kept saying "By gum!" every time he looked at it, and now and then he glanced at Elam and pinched himself to see if he was wide awake or dreaming.